Pete Buttigieg to speak at Duke amid fallout from Kamala Harris’ new book
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- Pete Buttigieg to speak Thursday at Duke amid post-election Democratic party debate
- Kamala Harris book cites Buttigieg as early running mate option then ruled out
- Buttigieg rejects assumptions on voter bias, stresses voter focus on policy
Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a prominent Democrat who has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2028, will speak at Duke University Thursday.
Buttigieg’s visit to the Durham campus is open only to the university community. His appearance comes as conversations take place among Democrats about the party’s loss in the 2024 presidential election and how they should approach major elections moving forward.
It also comes amid the ongoing fallout over revelations about Buttigieg which former Vice President Kamala Harris shares in a new memoir about her 107-day presidential campaign. Harris’ historic run for the White House began after President Joe Biden dropped out of last year’s race and endorsed her to take on President Donald Trump, who ultimately won and assumed office in January.
Among other details she reveals about her campaign, Harris says in her book “107 Days” — due for release Tuesday — that Buttigieg topped her initial list of possible running mates.
Harris writes as she began narrowing down the list to her finalists, Buttigieg was removed due to her concern that voters wouldn’t back a presidential ticket consisting of a Black woman and a gay man.
“But we were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man. Part of me wanted to say, Screw it, let’s just do it. But knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk,” Harris writes in the book, according to an excerpt published in The Atlantic.
Buttigieg “would have been an ideal partner—if I were a straight white man,” Harris says in the book. Harris also writes of the political risk she felt such a ticket would carry: “And I think Pete also knew that — to our mutual sadness.”
Buttigieg says voters deserve ‘more credit’
Responding to Harris’ comments in the forthcoming book, Buttigieg told Politico on Sept. 18 that he was “surprised” to read the passage and believes in “giving Americans more credit” than assuming they wouldn’t vote for such a ticket.
“My experience in politics has been that the way that you earn trust with voters is based mostly on what they think you’re going to do for their lives, not on categories,” Buttigieg told Politico.
Buttigieg, speaking with Politico in Indiana, cited as examples former President Barack Obama winning the state in 2008, and his own two-winning campaigns for mayor in South Bend in 2011 and 2015.
“You just have to go to voters with what you think you can do for them,” Buttigieg told Politico. “Politics is about the results we can get for people and not about these other things.”
While Harris writes that she believed Buttigieg also thought a ticket featuring both of them would be risky politically, Buttigieg told Politico that her concerns were “not something that we ever talked about.”
Harris also makes comments in her book about other Democrats and contenders for running mate, a job that ultimately went to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
What Buttigieg will talk about at Duke
Buttigieg will speak on Thursday at Duke’s Page Auditorium, as part of the university’s David M. Rubenstein Distinguished Lecture Series.
A description of the lecture on Duke’s website states that Buttigieg’s “timely talk will explore the critical intersections between governance and the pressing challenges facing American society today.”
“Drawing on his experience at both local and federal levels, Former Secretary Buttigieg will examine the evolving political landscape, the role of local government in crisis response and progress, and the urgent need to address misinformation in public discourse to strengthen civic trust and democratic resilience,” the preview of his talk states.
Tickets to Buttigieg’s talk are available only to members of the Duke community. Students, faculty, and staff can obtain tickets here.
