MIAMI — Donning an all white suit and her signature silk press, former Vice President Kamala Harris walked on stage to Victoria Monet’s “On My Mama” and waved to the crowd that filled the Adrienne Arsht Center to see her on the final stop of her book tour promoting “107 Days,” detailing her historic campaign for presidency.

For an hour Thursday night at the center’s Ziff Ballet Opera House, Harris sat across from moderator Ana Navarro, “The View” co-host and political analyst, and spoke candidly about her swift campaign for the presidency, detailing everything from the phone call from former President Joe Biden about his plans to drop out of the race and endorse her to her election night loss to Donald Trump, a chapter she called the hardest chapter to write.

“When you’ve gone through something that’s that traumatic, it takes a while before you can really talk about it,” she said. Still, Harris discussed difficult topics like whether she believed racism and sexism affected her ability to win the election with a frankness and surprisingly positive outlook.

“There is work that we have to do, but I believe that when we think about where the people are and what they want from a leader, I believe that they are embracing and accepting of the idea that there might be somebody in that position that has never looked or been like that before, but can be a leader,” she said. “And that’s why I always say I may be the first to do anything, but I will not be the last.”

But the conversation shifted to the current tone in America: people’s worries about the future amid a tough economic climate and other topics dominating the national conversation, including the impending release of all case files involving Jeffrey Epstein. “Part of what we have to acknowledge is that we still have some work to do around bringing justice to vulnerable people,” Harris said, when asked about the files.

She also took aim at Trump’s use of the Department of Justice to pursue political enemies, calling it a “destruction of the rule of law.”

“It’s not a private law firm, and he’s using the (DOJ), with all of its power, to go after his political enemies,” Harris said. “There is nothing about this that is normal, and we cannot normalize it. We cannot be so overwhelmed that we just say there is nothing about this.”

Harris detailed in her book the delicate balancing act between being vice president and presidential candidate, writing candidly about being a sitting VP and navigating the responsibility of meeting with dignitaries from other countries while navigating the campaign trail in key swing states, most notably Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.

She pushed back against those that say the United States isn’t ready for a woman president — something former first lady Michelle Obama’s recently stated. “I’m not hearing that, and that’s not the message we should be sending to the American people, to our young people,” Harris said. “And I’m not speaking about what any particular person has said. I’m not reacting to anyone else’s comment. I’m telling you my lived experience.”

But Harris stopped short of saying whether she’d run again, even as a reveler shouted “2028.” She wanted Miamians in the room to know she’s noted that many people feel alone (one attendee noted that they felt helpless), but emphasized not to let people take your power.

“We cannot ever let our spirit be defeated. Don’t ever let your spirit be defeated, because then they’re winning,” she said. “The fight sometimes takes a while, but you don’t give up, because we can’t.”

_____

©2025 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.