Uncharted by Chris Whipple

Author:Chris Whipple
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2025-02-14T00:00:00+00:00

ON MONDAY, THE DAY AFTER BIDEN’S ABDICATION, HARRIS paid a visit to campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware. It was July 22, 2024, 106 days before election day. As Harris waited off stage, Julie Chávez Rodriguez introduced Joe Biden, who’d called in from his Rehoboth house. “The name has changed at the top of the ticket, but the mission hasn’t changed,” he told them in a disembodied voice. “If we don’t win this thing, it’s all in jeopardy.” Then Harris made her entrance to chants of “Kamala!” Biden was still listening in. “I’m watching you, kid, I’m watching you, kid. I love you,” he said.

“It is my great honor to have Joe’s endorsement in this race,” Harris told the campaign staff. “And it is my intention to go out and earn this nomination and to win.”

The Harris campaign unfolded at warp speed. On July 23, the vice president secured enough delegates to clinch the nomination. That same day, at her first rally, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she took the stage to the booming soundtrack of Beyoncé’s “Freedom,” as the crowd chanted, “Kamala, Kamala!” Her reception was electric.

Harris reminded the audience of her history as a prosecutor and attorney general. “In those roles I took on perpetrators of all kinds,” she said. “Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say: I know Donald Trump’s type.” The crowd roared. The line was the result of a brainstorming session between the VP and her staff.

Harris was hitting her stride, speaking with a fluency and authenticity she’d never shown during her 2019 presidential campaign. On Friday, July 25, in a videotaped phone call, Barack Obama finally gave Harris his endorsement, calling her a “Happy Warrior.” Trump’s pollster Tony Fabrizio sent out an unusual memo, warning of “the Harris Honeymoon.” He wrote: “There is no question that Harris will get her bump earlier than the Democrat’s [sic] convention. And that bump is likely to start showing itself over the next few days and will last until the race settles back down . . . the Democrats and the MSM [mainstream media] will try and tout these polls as proof that the race has changed. But the fundamentals of the race stay the same . . .”

For Harris, the fundamentals were daunting. Sixty-five percent of Americans believed the nation was on the wrong track. The Democratic National Convention loomed, beginning on August 19. Harris and her supporters were riding a wave of enthusiasm and hope toward Chicago. But others were also headed there. They were demanding that Harris do something to end the bloodshed in Gaza.

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