Former Vice President Kamala Harris explained her decision not to choose Pete Buttigieg as her running mate in the 2024 presidential election in an interview with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on Monday. Harris said not choosing Buttigieg was not prejudice on her part, noting she is an LGBT advocate, but she was afraid that President Trump would use his being a gay man against their ticket. “No, no, no. That’s not what I said, that he couldn’t be on the ticket because he is gay,” Harris told to Maddow. “My point, as I write in the book, is that I was clear that in 107 days, in one of the most hotly contested elections for president of the United States against someone like Donald Trump, who knows no floor, to be a black woman running for president of the United States and as a vice presidential running mate, a gay man with the stakes being so high. It made me very sad, but I also realized it would be a real risk no matter how — you know, I’ve been an advocate and an ally of the LGBT community.” “Maybe I was being too cautious,” Harris said. “Maybe I was. But that’s the decision I made. And I’m and I as with everything else in the book, I’m being very candid about that. I’m with a great deal of sadness about also the fact that it might have been a risk.”

RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC HOST: Let me ask you a politics question. I mentioned in the intro tonight that you say in the book really bluntly that your personal first choice for your running mate would have been Pete Buttigieg, and you praise him effusively. You say he would have been an ideal partner if I were a straight man. And you say effectively that demographically it was too much to ask of the American people to ask them to elect you with him as your running mate. I wonder if his reaction to that since this part of the book has come out, if you’ve had any reflection on that, or I guess I’d ask you to just elaborate on that a little bit. It’s hard to hear with you running as, you know, you’re the first woman elected vice president, you’re a black woman and a South Asian woman elected to that high office, very nearly elected president, to say that he couldn’t be on the ticket effectively because he was gay. It’s hard to hear. FORMER VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: No, no, no. That’s not what I said, that he couldn’t be on the ticket because he is gay. My point, as I write in the book, is that I was clear that in 107 days, in one of the most hotly contested elections for president of the United States against someone like Donald Trump, who knows no floor, to be a black woman running for president of the United States and as a vice presidential running mate, a gay man with the stakes being so high. It made me very sad, but I also realized it would be a real risk no matter how, you know, I’ve been an advocate and an ally of the LGBT community. My entire life. It wasn’t about it. Wasn’t about it. Right. So it wasn’t about any any prejudice on my part. But that we had such a short, we had such a short period of time and the stakes were so high. I think Pete is a phenomenal, phenomenal public servant. And I think America is and would be ready for that. But at when I had to make that decision with two weeks to go, you know, and maybe I was being too cautious, you know, I’ll let our friends. We should all talk about that. Maybe I was. But that’s the decision I made. And I’m and I as with everything else in the book, I’m being very candid about that. I’m with a great deal of sadness about also the fact that it might have been a risk.

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