Top aides to Joe Biden privately warned Democratic donors last summer that pushing the then-president out of the 2024 race would backfire — because it would all but guarantee Vice President Kamala Harris would become the nominee, a scenario they called a “mistake,” according to a new book, The Guardian reported.
Inside the panic as Biden faltered and Harris rose
“Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House” by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes — set for release next week as Donald Trump’s second term enters its third month — offers an explosive behind-the-scenes account of the political chaos that followed Biden’s disastrous debate performance on June 27.
In a message recounted by a donor, Biden’s inner circle made their warning crystal clear: “They were aggressively saying that we would wind up with the vice-president and that would be a mistake.”
The authors describe a moment of crisis inside the Biden campaign, as aides lashed out at donors who called for him to step aside, accusing them of trying to manipulate the nomination process to elevate their own preferred alternatives. Biden’s team viewed Harris as the last line of defence — or a final warning.
“Even if Biden did drop out and you got your dreamed-up open convention, you would only succeed in nominating the vice-president,” the book quotes one adviser as saying. “Is that what you want? You want her? Look at her polling. No one wants her. Forget it. It’s never gonna happen.”
Money dried up. Biden stepped aside. Harris took the stage.
Despite the warnings, donors began pulling back funding, reportedly cutting off hundreds of millions of dollars. On July 21, Biden announced his withdrawal from the race. In a historic moment, Harris became the nominee — but not without fierce internal resistance.
The book reveals that several party grandees, including former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, initially opposed elevating Harris. However, their pushback was ultimately overruled by party figures like Congressman Jim Clyburn, who had helped secure both Biden’s and Harris’s places on the 2020 ticket.
“There are some powerful folks saying, ‘Off with both their heads,’” Clyburn reportedly thought. “They’re all planning to pass over Kamala.”
Harris’s struggle for support from Obama and Pelosi
Allen and Parnes detail Harris’s personal frustration with her uphill battle to win over Democratic leaders. Her campaign, marred by missteps, was reportedly denied a coveted interview with podcast host Joe Rogan — a platform Trump used to galvanize his base.
Meanwhile, Harris “pined” for Obama’s public backing, according to the authors. The emotional distance reportedly stemmed from an old snub: being denied access to a VIP area during Obama’s 2009 victory celebration in Chicago.
“Doesn’t he see what’s happening?” she reportedly thought, her disappointment turning to anger as she questioned why the former president was holding back.
Though Obama reportedly believed Harris could not beat Trump, he ultimately endorsed her — not out of conviction, the book suggests, but because opposing her could damage his own standing among Democratic elites.
Pelosi also eventually campaigned for Harris, declaring her “immense pride” in doing so. Yet according to an unnamed source, Pelosi reacted to Biden’s debate debacle with dread. “Oh my God, it’s going to be her,” she reportedly said privately on the night of the event in Atlanta.
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