Kamala Harris tells San Francisco audience how she would have changed her campaign

SAN FRANCISCO When former Vice President Kamala Harris strode onto The Masonic stage Sunday to discuss her presidential campaign memoir Days it could have been a campaign rally all over again The sold-out crowd of more than people stood in applause and cheered so loudly they drowned out Harris s hello to the city where her political career began two decades ago as San Francisco District Attorney It s good to be home she commented During the -minute conversation moderated by comedian and actor D L Hughley the former state Attorney General and U S Senator shared the pain she felt on losing last year s presidential race to Donald Trump the changes she would make to her campaign and the optimism she still has for America No one can defeat your spirit if you don t let them she mentioned Kamala Harris talks with comedian and moderator D L Hughley during A conversation with Kamala Harris at The Masonic in San Francisco Calif on Sunday Oct Harris was promoting her book Days about her unsuccessful presidential bid Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group Several of those who attended the event particular from as far as San Diego and Sacramento praised her message of hope as just what they needed after nine months of the Trump administration which has ramped up deportations of non-citizens who are in the country without permission and is making plans to send more National Guard troops to Democratic-led cities where protesters have clashed with immigration agents I m amazed that she s still positive after everything that she went through and what s happening to our country noted Amy Burkhart a physician from Napa I think it was essential for us to hear a message like that that we still don t give up and that we need to work together because there s more of us than there are of them Harris s book about her -day campaign that began in July when President Biden dropped out of his re-election race sold copies in its first week one of the best starts for a memoir since behind the books by Britney Spears Taylor Swift Prince Harry according to publisher Simon Schuster San Francisco was her fifth stop on her -city book tour that includes jaunts to London and Toronto Canada Her book has been criticized for blaming others at times for her loss and for burning bridges of political allies Harris gave no hint about whether she would pursue another presidential run She already publicized she would not run for California governor in to replace a termed-out Gavin Newsom No one knows what the future holds Hughley commented This is my freedom tour she noted with a laugh Kamala Harris speaks during A conversation with Kamala Harris at The Masonic in San Francisco Calif on Sunday Oct Harris was promoting her book Days about her unsuccessful presidential bid Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group At the same time she lamented the paucity of protests against Trump s administration the capitulation of law firms universities and corporations to bend a knee at the foot of a tyrant and the political misinformation allowed by Silicon Valley s social media companies There are a lot of people here who work in the valley who work on social media she revealed We ve got to figure out how we within the industry and the discipline of instrument require as part of this ethos and moral obligation ethical obligation monitor truth versus bull Harris lost to Trump by a slim of the national vote despite Trump winning all the battleground states In more detail than in the book Harris described the pain she felt on poll night She kept saying to herself My God my God my God she declared I was grieving and I was grieving for a long time and I have not felt a similar kind of grief since my mother died Harris commented It was so painful and it wasn t about a win it was about what I predicted was going to happen She criticized Trump s weaponization of the Justice Department to prosecute political enemies and for lying to voters that he would bring grocery prices down At the same time however she acknowledged that she should have focused more of her campaign on pocketbook issues instead of green system and infrastructure We re going to have to realize that the majority of people in our country are having a intricate time buying groceries having a intricate time paying rent and part of what we ve got to do is deal with the immediate she noted So if I had done it differently I would have seemingly waited to do infrastructure and the Chips Act and done what we were working on which is affordable child care paid family leave and extended child tax credits Throughout the on-stage discussion Hughley often came across as cynical about America after Trump s win as a Black man living in this country for a long time he suggested he s not surprised by the racism people seem free to express now I m not really shocked about America being what it is now because I think it was perpetually there he disclosed Harris pushed back however saying that the electoral contest was not a full message about who we are as Americans and pointed out that one-third of registered voters voted for Trump one-third voted for Harris and one-third didn t vote I think there s deep work to be done including with the Democratic Party she reported For starters she revealed Democrats must get over the savior complex that focuses on finding one leader to save the party Instead the party requirements to backing the newcomers who show promise to lead Illyasha Peete from Discovery Bay announced Harris s November loss was devastating but Harris s talk Sunday reinvigorated me to jump back in to the fight My parents were civil rights activists with Martin Luther King and they taught us that our job is to kick down doors and hold them open for others and maybe even push others in front of you She reintroduced me to that belief