LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Former Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking at the Wiltern theater to promote her newly released memoir about her unsuccessful 2024 presidential campaign, urged the roomful of supporters to continue fighting for their vision of America.
“We cannot let our spirit be defeated. Times like this require us to fight fire with fire,” Harris told the packed house of supporters, who paid upwards of $100 each for tickets to the Monday night discussion. The crowd repeatedly cheered the former vice president — the first woman to hold the office — as she discussed the 107 days she spent campaigning for the nation’s top job.
She urged Democrats to continue their campaign of resistance to Trump administration policies they oppose, but warned them that “sometimes the fight takes a while.”
The presidential race began for Harris on July 21, 2024, when then- President Joe Biden announced he would not seek reelection. On Nov. 5. 2024, Donald Trump won the presidency.
Harris’ journal-like book, “107 Days,” is broken into chapters discussing significant dates in the lead up to the election. Coming across as both complimentary and occasionally resentful, Harris ponders Biden’s age and mental sharpness and how his image for good or bad cast a shadow over her campaign.
In the Los Angeles stop on her book tour, Harris, 60, sought to offer a positive message to voters who were disheartened by the outcome of the election.
“I hope that we remember the optimism we felt during those 107 days,” she said, adding again that “our spirit cannot be defeated.”
At the same time, she expressed surprise that Trump in his second term as president appears to face so little resistance as he targets universities, diversity efforts and long-held scientific beliefs.
“What I did not predict was the capitulation,” Harris said. “I always believed the titans of industry would be the guardians of our democracy – – and I’ve been deeply, deeply disappointed.”
The Brentwood resident said that in a recent visit to Washington, D.C., she met with journalists who told her they fear for their jobs and safety if they report views other than those belonging to the Trump administration.
“Journalists are really scared right now,” Harris told the crowd. “They’re afraid.”
According to Harris, Trump “is trying to keep the truth from the American people. This is a time to rise up. We cannot normalize this. People are on edge right now.”
Harris did not offer the crowd any hints about her possible future political aspirations. But she revealed that her emotional response to her election-night defeat lingered long after Trump’s victory.
“I haven’t felt anything as remotely similar since my mother died,” she said. “I was grieving for my country.”
There seemed to be little anti-Harris activity outside the venue, but security, including Los Angeles Police Department K9 handlers and metal detectors, was tight.
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