Harris’s mother dedicated her life to finding a cure for breast cancer. She taught Harris the value and strength of the female body, and Harris went on to defend women and girls who were victims of rape and assault as a prosecutor. She argues that telling a woman who has suffered “a violation of her body that she has no say in what happens to her body next is immoral” (250-51). That day, Harris held a rally in Texas, where laws governing reproductive rights and abortion access had become so restrictive after the fall of Roe v. Wade that dozens of women had died after being unable to access life-saving care.

Harris’s campaign anthem was Beyoncé’s “Freedom,” which played every time Harris walked onstage. Now, the superstar spoke in support of Harris at the rally, insisting she wanted her children to live in a “world where we have the freedom to control our bodies” (251).

Trump held a rally at Madison Square Garden featuring comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage” during his “vulgar, racist set” (252). Harris had just unveiled her plan for a Puerto Rico task force and visited a Puerto Rican restaurant in West Philly. During her time in the Senate, Harris had committed herself to representing Puerto Ricans, since the island territory had no representative of its own.

Harris’s closing argument took place at the Ellipse, the spot at which Trump spoke before protesters on January 6, 2021.

The campaign had estimated a turnout of 40,000, but soon 75,000 supporters were spilling out all the way down the National Mall. Harris knew that the fate of the country was riding on her speech, and she made revisions until the moment she walked on stage. The point she most wanted to impress upon those listening was that she would be “a leader who listens to experts, to people who would be impacted by decisions [she] made, and to people who disagree with [her]” (255).

With the White House illuminated behind her, Harris communicated a sense of urgency and contrasted herself with Trump. She highlighted her vision for America, which celebrated “people fighting for freedom, for equality, for inclusion,” and she reminded the audience that they could write the next chapter of American history.

Harris had no time to bask in the success of her speech because her campaign had to put out another fire. During a get-out-the-vote event with Voto Latino, Biden had rebuked Hinchcliffe’s comments about Puerto Rico by saying, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s” (258). Biden meant that what Hinchcliffe had said was garbage, but the possessive apostrophe was lost in the Zoom meeting, and “everyone heard […] the president calling Trump’s supporters garbage” (258). Harris had worked so hard to emphasize a message of inclusion; now, she had to gather her press pool and reassert that she represented all the people, whether they supported her or not.

The final days of the campaign became increasingly intense. Harris’s team monitored data out of swing states while Harris continued her outreach across political divides. Still, Harris had her guard up. She couldn’t risk being caught by “the next blow” (261) the Trump campaign would throw at her.

Harris left her Las Vegas hotel room at 7:42 am after taping an interview for Univision Radio. Then, she flew to Wisconsin, where she spoke at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, held a community rally in Green Bay, and then a larger rally in Milwaukee. Before Harris was slotted to speak, her team told her about a last-minute interview with the podcast host Doctor Mike. They assured her it was “just a brief thing on the RFK appointment” (265) and didn’t have the usual pre-interview briefing sheet for her. When Doctor Mike’s introduction touched on health care costs, school lunches, women’s health, barriers to primary care, and anti-science rhetoric, Harris was furious that she had “been ambushed by an unscheduled in-depth interview” (266).

After finally speaking at the rally, Harris made it to her hotel room nearly 20 hours after departing Las Vegas.

When polls showed Iowa shifting in Harris’s favor, her team was skeptical but optimistic, thinking the campaign might be gaining ground with suburban and Republican women. Nationwide, however, Harris was “still stuck in a virtual dead heat” (268). The race was far from over, and Harris set off to visit five states in one day, as cities across the country prepared for possible unrest ahead of election day. The day included rallies in Georgia and North Carolina and ended with a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live.

On Sunday morning, Harris attended the service at Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ in Detroit. As Harris addressed the congregation, she spoke of remaining strong in times of uncertainty. She still believed her “campaign of joy” would triumph (273).

Harris spent the day before the election in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania. When a reporter asked Harris what she was most proud of in her whirlwind campaign, she responded that it was her team, a crew of “accomplished people,” who had put their lives on hold to support her and their cause (274).

Harris met with campaign volunteers in Scranton, attended a rally with rapper Fat Joe in Allentown, and met with representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Reading. Then, Harris went knocking on some doors herself. It was performative, but it represented the “magical” moment of “the direct ask” (275) from a candidate to a voter who still has time to decide.

At midnight, Harris left her Philadelphia rally and headed back to DC, where her family was converging.

As Americans cast their votes, Doug and Harris’s brother-in-law, Tony, spent the day campaigning in Michigan while Harris visited the DNC to thank volunteers and make a few phone calls of her own. By that evening, Harris’s work was finally done, and she returned to the residence to prepare for a family dinner.

Meanwhile, members of her staff set up in a nearby hotel ballroom to begin analyzing data as polls closed, and in another nearby ballroom, friends of the campaign and important donors were gathering to celebrate. Staff were on standby to drive Harris and her family to Howard University later that evening, where she expected to give either “a victory speech” or “an optimistic holding statement” (278).

Harris noticed that Doug “seemed distracted” when he returned from Detroit with Tony. She figured that it was the tension of the day, given that Tony reported that their campaigning had gone well. In reality, Doug was “dismayed” by a text he and Tony received from a trusted contributor in the Fox News war room. The friend confessed that Fox’s election desk, known for its accurate predictions, was anticipating that Trump would sweep the swing states. All Doug remembers from the night is “freaking out” in the shower, “praying […] the Fox intel wasn’t right” (280).

After dinner, Harris headed upstairs to get ready to leave for Howard University. She doesn’t know, now, why her team was “feeling so confident” in such a close race (280). They had discussed and planned for many outcomes, including the possibility that Trump would contest the election results or try to claim a premature victory. They had planned for everything—except a loss.

Snatches of updates filtered into the residence. They had lost North Carolina and Georgia, but there was still a path forward for Harris. A call came from Howard University asking them to wait. In the boiler room, Harris staff worked on her holding speech with the message: “We expect to prevail, be patient, go home, rest up, but we’ve got this” (282). When one of the staffers argued that the message “could be contradicted within an hour of [her] saying it” (282), they realized for the first time that losing was more likely than winning.

Soon, her staff called, advising her not to go to Howard after all. Not long after, Harris’s campaign chair called with the news that there was no path to victory for her. Downstairs with her family, Harris repeated in shock, “My God, my God, what will happen to our country?” (283). She simply couldn’t comprehend that she’d lost.

Upon awakening, Harris found herself in denial, unable to believe the results of the election and desperate for anything that might change things. However, she still had responsibilities, the first of which was conceding to Donald Trump. Over the phone, “Trump was effusive,” expressing his respect for Harris and complimenting her “beautiful name,” which he finally pronounced correctly (286).

Next, Harris needed to deliver her concession speech. She was determined that the speech wouldn’t be “a pity party” (287). She wanted to remind Americans that all the things she fought for were still at stake, and that they couldn’t give up the fight.

Walz and his family met Harris at Howard, and Harris consoled his sobbing daughter. Then Harris walked out on the stage to show her supporters that though this part of the fight was over, a new one was beginning.

Harris was still vice president, and on January 6, 2025, she was tasked with certifying the election results. During the previous election cycle, Trump had tried to subvert the election, inspiring violent protests on the Capitol and claiming widespread fraud. Harris, however, was determined to fulfill the responsibility that democracy required of her.

Two trending internet searches after the election were “What is a tariff?” and “Can I change my vote?” (294), but Harris doesn’t take pleasure in telling the American people, “I told you so” (294). She outlines how the things she warned of, the risk of recession, the dangers of Trump’s Project 2025, and the worsening the economy are now real-life threats to everyday Americans.

Harris points out that Trump’s victory was “whisker-thin” (295). Just one-third of Americans voted for Trump, another third for Harris, and the final third stayed home. Furthermore, many of Trump’s supporters voted based on false promises. Therefore, Harris refuses to entertain the argument that America wanted the reality of Trump’s presidency.

Harris reminds Americans that “right-wing and religious nationalists have played the long game” (296) when it comes to dismantling American democracy. What feels like chaos is actually “the swift implementation of an agenda that was written many decades ago” (296). She calls on her supporters to develop an alternative plan for the future of the United States, warning that damage has been done, but there is the opportunity to create a system that is even better and more efficient. The key is investing in younger generations, funding education, and improving ways for people to learn skills and trades.

Harris knows that her work isn’t finished, but she is no longer sure that she can “make change from inside the system” (299). It was a system she believed in, but now, “every single guardrail that is supposed to protect our democracy is buckling” (299). Instead, the work of rebuilding the United States must begin with listening to the American people.