39 | Friday, September 19, 2025Harris says Buttigieg was her 'first choice' for 2024 running mate but the pairing was too risky Print | Front Page | Email this story To:From:Message:From (email):Message:WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Kamala Harris says she would have picked Pete Buttigieg as her running mate last year but America wasn't ready for the pairing, according to an excerpt of her new book. "But we were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man. Her thoughts on selecting a running mate come as potential 2028 contenders begin traveling the U.S. in the early days of the second Trump administration. Buttigieg emerged as a national political figure during his 2020 presidential run in which he finished atop the Iowa caucuses. Tim Walz as her running mate after his attack line against former President Donald Trump and his running mate, then-Ohio Sen. JD Vance — "These guys are just weird" — spread widely.