Former Vice President Kamala Harris recounted a strikingly idealized image of her 2024 campaign rallies Thursday, claiming attendees would repeatedly pass babies through crowds for her to photograph or embrace.
The remarks came during an appearance on the podcast House Guest, part of her promotional tour for her memoir, 107 Days, which reflects on her unsuccessful presidential bid against President Donald Trump.
“You know, one of my favorite things to see — and it would always happen spontaneously at our rallies … invariably somebody would want me to take a picture or to hug their child,” Harris said. “And someone in the back would hand that baby over through the crowd … pass the baby and then pass the baby back! Pass the baby back. And I don’t know, there was something about that when it would happen. I mean, I could get very emotional about it right now.”
She framed the practice as an example of trust and communal responsibility. “I believe that we should always feel that the children of the community are the children of the community. Of all of us … and that we all participate in caring about that child,” she said. “There was just something so magical in many ways about that, and about affirming that you can create an environment where people feel safe and feel a sense of communal responsibility and community.”
While Harris painted a rosy picture of her rallies, social media footage has challenged that narrative.
A video circulating online shows an apparent Harris supporter shouting at a small child in a stroller outside a Houston rally in October.
The footage depicts a white woman yelling at the girl while a black woman intervened, physically pulling the supporter away from the child as a man lifted the toddler from the stroller.
Harris has repeatedly emphasized her belief that “the children of the community are the children of the community” in public speeches, Fox News reported Thursday.
Critics, however, have suggested her speeches often veer into incoherence, raising questions about her effectiveness as a national candidate.
Political pundits warned during her short campaign that her penchant for “word salad” speeches could undermine her viability.
She ultimately failed to secure any battleground states or the national popular vote, losing decisively to Trump.
Some Democrats have also criticized Harris’ memoir. Michael Hardaway, a former senior adviser to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, told Politico that the book “seems unhelpful and divisive in a way that makes it hard for her to be the face of the party as we look to the future.” Hardaway emphasized that in a period when Democrats purportedly need strong voices against the Trump administration, Harris had an opportunity to unite, which he felt she missed.
107 Days also includes personal anecdotes from the campaign, including instructions from a Harris aide for former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff to write love letters to Harris following a disagreement on her birthday, illustrating the vice president’s focus on image and presentation amid a challenging campaign.
Harris’ portrayal of rally-goers passing infants through crowds, juxtaposed with viral clips of erratic supporter behavior and ongoing criticisms from within her own party, underscores the tension between her carefully curated narrative and the realities of her 2024 campaign performance.
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