Kamala Harris: Why running with gay man Pete Buttigieg was ‘too big of a risk’

Former US Vice President Kamala Harris has revealed she did not want a gay, male Democrat to run with her in her bid for the presidency as she felt it would be “a lot” to ask of America.

Ms Harris’ name was thrust to the top of the Democrat ticker after then-US President Joe Biden pulled out of the 2024 election following a train wreck debate against Donald Trump.

Mr Biden resisted the urge to step down over concerns relating to his age and cognitive function, eventually announcing that he would not seek reelection.

His move gave Ms Harris just 107 days to run for the presidency.

When it came to picking a vice presidential candidate, one immensely popular Democrat’s name kept coming up in speculation.

Pete Buttigieg.

The respected Democrat is a former naval officer who was deployed in Afghanistan, a graduate of Harvard College, a recipient of the Rhodes Scholarship at the University of Oxford and, as of 2021, the first openly gay Cabinet secretary in US history.

In 2019, he sought out the Democratic nomination to run for the presidency, however, dropped out and endorsed Mr Biden.

In 2020, following Mr Biden’s election win against Mr Trump, Mr Buttigieg was named the President’s nominee for Secretary of Transportation, a nomination which was confirmed on February 2, 2021.

Mr Buttigieg is also a former mayor, having served the community of South Bend, Indiana for eight years.

He is also personally close with Ms Harris.

In her new book 107 Days, which is released on September 23 in Australia, Ms Harris reveals she wanted to pick Mr Buttigieg as her running mate, however, his sexuality made her choose someone else.

She writes that Mr Buttigieg “would have been an ideal partner—if he were a straight white man,” as revealed by The Atlantic which recently published an excerpt from the book.

“But we were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man,” Ms Harris adds.

“Part of me wanted to say, Screw it, let’s just do it. But knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk.

“I think Pete also knew that—to our mutual sadness.”

The decision from Ms Harris could be seen as a contributing factor to her loss. Instead of Mr Buttigieg, Ms Harris selected Tim Walz, who earned the nickname “Coach Walz”. Mr Walz, the Governor of Minnesota, is relatively new to US politics, having held office since 2019.

The Democrat running mate of Ms Harris proved to be problematic for her campaign, stumbling in many speeches and being called out for sharing false information about his personal life.

The Democrats, after Ms Harris’ 2024 defeat to Mr Trump, have been left captain-less, with no one stepping up to lead the party.

Australians may not be as familiar with Mr Buttigieg, who is a household name in the United States.

Following Ms Harris loss, he has fronted tough interviews week after week, evening appearing on Fox News to take on Republicans.

In her upcoming book, Ms Harris describes Mr Buttigieg as “a sincere public servant with the rare talent of being able to frame liberal arguments in a way that makes it possible for conservatives to hear them”.

Following the publication of the passage where Ms Harris says she thought running with a gay man was too big a risk, Mr Buttigieg responded, telling Politico he was “surprised” by the concern, adding it was not something they ever spoke about.

“My experience in politics has been that the way that you earn trust with voters is based mostly on what they think you’re going to do for their lives, not on categories,” he told Politco.

“You just have to go to voters with what you think you can do for them.

“Politics is about the results we can get for people and not about these other things.”

Specifically addressing Ms Harris’ concern, Mr Buttigieg said he likes “giving Americans more credit”.

Who the Democrats could send to the next US presidential election in 2028 is still an open race, however, Mr Buttigieg has expressed interest, previously saying he would need to assess what he could bring to the table.