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Former Vice President Kamala Harris revealed that former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was actually her first choice for a running mate in her forthcoming book 107 Days chronicling her presidential campaign in 2024, according to an excerpt obtained by the Atlantic.
Harris believed that Buttigieg, a married gay man, would've been an "ideal partner" if she, herself, was "a straight white man."
“But we were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man,” Harris wrote. “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.
“And I think Pete also knew that — to our mutual sadness.”
Harris, who eventually announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her choice, went on to explain that Buttigieg topped her list of eight potential running mates as he's "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.”
“I love Pete,” she added. “I love working with Pete. He and his husband, Chasten, are friends.”
In June, Buttigieg led all other candidates, including Harris, in a 2028 Hypothetical Democratic Primary survey conducted by Emerson College Polling. The survey had Buttigieg at 16%, leading former Vice President and 2024 Democratic nominee Kamala Harris at 13%, California Gov. Gavin Newsom at 12%, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at 7% and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro at 7%. Undecided voters, however, were the overall majority at 23%.
Newsom, who has recently taken a social media approach parodying President Donald Trump, has since surged to lead all Democrats in the Emerson College Polling survey with conducted earlier this month at 25% support, a 13% increase in June.