Harris Reckons With Her 2024 Campaign in San Francisco Homecoming

Kamala Harris is coming home to the Bay Area — on her book tour, that is.

The former vice president, who also served as U.S. senator, state attorney general and San Francisco district attorney, will appear on stage at the Masonic Auditorium for two back-to-back events on Sunday. She’s promoting her new book, 107 Days, which chronicles her truncated, unsuccessful presidential campaign last year.

Harris’s popularity in the Democratic Party has waned since her loss — even in her home state of California. A recent poll found nearly two-thirds of state voters do not think she should run for president again. And earlier this summer, Harris decided against running for governor in California.

But in San Francisco, where her political career began, she is likely to be welcomed by an enthusiastic, nostalgic crowd, as she was during her campaign last year.

“I think the world of Kamala and I’ve known her and have supported her for more than 20 years,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat who represents San Francisco. “I think she’s fantastic. She would have been a really good president, and I’m still sad that she lost to this horrific human being.”

Wiener’s unwavering support comes in contrast to some Democratic reaction to her book, which details her short campaign and includes swipes at fellow Democrats. Those named in the book include Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and California Gov. Gavin Newsom — politicians she could face in a 2028 presidential primary.

But in vintage Harris style — she’s often been criticized for being overly cautious in her politics — the book is circumspect.

“It was somewhat salty at points,” said Melanie Mason, Politico’s senior California politics reporter, on KQED’s Political Breakdown podcast. But, she added, “This is not a tell-all. It is a tell-all-ish … it still feels like she is holding back.”

Mason noted that while Harris makes some digs, she stops short of anything too controversial.

“We focus a lot on these jabs or sharp elbows she throws at fellow Democrats. But the thing that doesn’t get wrapped up in these excerpts is like, she’ll make one or two comments about Josh Shapiro, but it’s after like five pages of saying all these nice things about Josh,” Mason said. “If she wanted to really burn it all down, she wouldn’t have included all the nice stuff. And I think that that shows she still has that reflex of saying the kind of politically correct thing.”

For many of Harris’s allies and fans, who are expected to pack the Masonic Auditorium on Sunday, it makes sense for her to look back to move forward.

Former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter, who worked for Harris when she was attorney general, said she is glad to see Harris tell her side of the story.

“I think she wrote the book to be forthcoming. Those are her stories that she’s telling,” said Porter, who is running for California governor next year. “Certainly, others are going to tell their version of what happened. But I think it’s absolutely appropriate that she is trying to talk about that campaign. We’re going to need to learn those lessons going into 2028.”