Harris says lack of time to campaign contributed to 2024 loss to Trump

Former Vice President Kamala Harris said timing was one of the biggest factors in her loss to former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, arguing she did not have enough time to campaign against him. In an appearance on The View while promoting her memoir 107 Days, Harris said there were many factors that influenced the outcome, but she believed the time constraint was a major contributor.

She described the campaign setup noting that Biden decided not to run, leaving Harris as the acting nominee with about 107 days until the election to face a former president who had long been in the national election cycle. Harris pointed to the scale of the operation, saying her team spent about 1.5 billion dollars over roughly 15 weeks, and that outcome included losses in the popular vote, the Electoral College and all seven swing states. She called the 2024 race the closest presidential contest of the 21st century.

Harris return to The View followed a controversial October 2024 interview that critics said damaged the campaign. In her new memoir she writes that she had prepared an answer to a question about differences with Joe Biden but chose not to deliver it. She noted that she thought about saying she would appoint a Republican to her cabinet if she won the presidency but did not share that on air, a decision she says she now regrets.

The memoir describes the moment as a hand grenade for the campaign. A staffer handed her a note during a commercial break urging her to revisit the question and to say that a big difference would be to have a Republican in her cabinet. Harris writes that she did not end up using that line, yet she acknowledges that the line could have changed the impression of her campaign and tied her more closely to Biden.

The disclosures come as Democrats reflect on how to run in competitive elections against well-known Republican opponents. Harris has positioned the discussion around timing and structural hurdles, while continuing to promote her book and other political projects. The remarks add to a broader examination of the 2024 campaign and its lessons for future races.