Former Vice President Kamala Harris is continuing to get candid about the state of the Democratic Party after her devastating presidential loss in the 2024 election.
During a recent interview on Jaime Harrison’s podcast, “At Our Table,” Harris reflected on her party, which nominated her last year as the first Black and South Asian woman to be a presidential nominee in U.S. history.
“I think that in some ways, we are very much stuck in the past. And so we’re not speaking in a way that sounds authentic or relatable or just relevant,” said Harris, who details her reflections on her historic presidential campaign in her new book, “107 Days.”
The potential 2028 presidential candidate said Democrats have to “speak to this moment,” telling Harrison, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, “We have to be able to accept that there are voices that are maybe new to the room, but have something important to say.”
Harris continued, “Let’s not discount it because it’s not the way we talk traditionally. I think that there is a lot that we need to do that is about recognizing we give a lot of lip service to listening to the people, but are we really listening? Are we really listening to the people?”
The former vice president’s comments follow her recent remarks at the DNC’s winter meeting, in which she told Democrats that both political parties have “failed” the American public. Harris repeated previous claims that the U.S.’s political system is “broken.”
“Both parties have failed to hold the public’s trust…government is viewed as fundamentally unable to meet the needs of its people,” said Harris.
She continued, “In so many other ways, the people feel that the very institutions that were designed to support them have failed them. And they are not wrong. We must see what is happening. People are done with the status quo, and they’re ready to break things to force change.”
The former vice president told Harrison on his podcast that Democrats have “work to do.”
“These conversations that may make some people uncomfortable but are important to actually move forward, we should invite and encourage,” she said.
