(DCNF)—Former Democrat Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford Jr. said Wednesday on Fox News’ “The Five” that former Vice President Kamala Harris should thank Democrats for her 2024 presidential nomination instead of “blaming” them and “making excuses.”
Harris released her new memoir, “107 Days,” on Tuesday and has since conducted a media tour reflecting on her failed 2024 campaign. Discussing Harris and her repeated remarks about what little time she had to campaign.
“I think this exercise that the [former] vice president has undertaken is, at best, puzzling and, at worst, just a waste of time. Nine months after she loses the race, she comes on a television show to say that she had never hurt like this before,” Ford Jr. said. “If you’re serious about politics and you’re serious about the enterprise of policymaking, which is really about helping people, you don’t make it about yourself too. I would have thought she remains, Emily, I think you’re right, she is probably the proverbial leader of the party in some ways. She can make an argument.”
“Here we are, seven days before the government is slated to shut down because Democrats and Republicans, as usual, can’t get along,” Ford Jr. said. “Why isn’t she out saying, ‘Here’s what we should be doing. Here’s what I would have done had I been president. I’ve gotten over it. I lost. These are things I should have done’?”
During an appearance on ABC’s “The View” Tuesday, Harris falsely claimed that the 2024 presidential election was the “closest” of the 21st century. Despite the actual closest election being between former President George W. Bush and former Democratic nominee Al Gore, Harris blamed her loss on having only 107 days to launch her presidential campaign.
An excerpt released ahead of Harris’ book launch circulated last week, in which she wrote that she passed over former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as her 2024 running mate because it was “too big of a risk” for a Black woman to run with a gay man.
Ford Jr. continued to criticize Harris and her complaints about the limited time she had on the campaign trail, saying that other Democrats would have gladly accepted the party’s nomination.
“This notion, as I finish here, that 107 days wasn’t long enough, then you shouldn’t have accepted the nomination. It was a blessing to get the nomination at that moment. You should be saying ‘Thank you’ to Democrats, because I’m sure there are a few governors, friends of mine, who would love to have run, love to have been the nominee, and would not be making excuses,” Ford Jr. said. “Certainly, I don’t think that she means to blame others, but you’re right, her actions … to say that Pete Buttigieg, whatever she said about him, if he were not gay, she would have chosen [him].”
“I mean, we said this last week, she’s trying to make herself the hero, and then once you think about it, she’s not the hero in it. You’re going to make yourself irrelevant, Madam Vice President, if you have not already,” Ford Jr. added. “Please, this book tour, you can say what you want to say about your book, but tell us, give us something positive, look forward, be optimistic, instead of blaming. And for that matter, going one by one on those who we believe may be the future of our party, telling us why you didn’t choose them as your running mate.”
Since the release of her book and media tour, some Democrats have expressed frustration with the former vice president’s comments, telling Politico that the book appears to be “unhelpful and divisive.”
In July 2024, former President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential and endorsed Harris as the Democratic nominee. A little over two weeks later, Harris selected Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
The choice followed speculation that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly were top contenders, though pundits suggested Shapiro was unlikely to be picked due to being Jewish as there were concerns within the party about appeasing pro-Palestine protesters.
Despite the limited number of in-depth interviews Harris gave, she often received backlash due to her infamous word salad answers. By Election Day, Democrats lost both the Electoral College and the popular vote to then former President Donald Trump, as some party pundits appeared confused as to how Republicans could have won.
Exit polls from the 2024 race showed Trump gained major ground among Black and Latino men, voting blocs that had once been key to Democrats. According to Reuters, the president gained 14 points among Hispanics nationally since 2020 and saw gains among Black men in swing states like North Carolina.
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