107 Days

Joseph “Joe” Biden was elected the 46th president of the United States in 2020, following over 40 years of public service that included seven terms in the US Senate representing Delaware and serving as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2017. Biden was up for reelection in 2024, but at 81 years old, individuals from both parties worried that he was not up to the rigors of a second term. After his disastrous debate with Republican nominee Donald Trump on June 27, 2024, calls for him to step aside increased, and Biden finally withdrew from the race on July 21.

While Harris calls her affection for Biden and their rapport “genuine,” she is frank about the challenges of their relationship and how her proximity to the increasingly unpopular president affected her campaign. Harris points out that, as the Democratic nominee, she was “the only person who would preserve [Biden’s] legacy” (3). However, over the course of her tenure as vice president, Biden’s team constantly worked to keep her “under wraps,” worrying that if Harris was “shining,” it would reflect poorly on Biden (51). They failed to grasp that Harris’s success was necessary for Biden, giving the country confidence that she would be a competent leader if something were to happen to the aging president.

Throughout the text, Harris portrays Biden with warmth and admiration. She is sensitive to the difficulties the Biden family faced as the 2024 presidential election was a painful and disappointing end to Biden’s 50 years of public service.

Donald J. Trump is an American businessman and media personality who was elected the 45th President of the United States in 2016 and the 47th President of the United States in 2024. Harris states Trump’s first term was marked by “chaos and cruelty” (37). Upon losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden, Trump made numerous unsubstantiated claims that there had been voter fraud and refused to concede the election. On January 6, 2021, he incited protestors to stop proceedings at the Capitol to certify the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden.

Though the book is nonfiction, Trump serves as its antagonist. He was Biden and Harris’s main political opponent and their major obstacle running a successful campaign. 107 Days takes a partisan view of Trump and his campaign, reflecting the beliefs of Harris, the Democratic Party, and their supporters. When Trump announced his intent to run again in the 2024 presidential race, many on the opposing side feared that a second Trump presidency would pose an existential threat to American democracy. Therefore, Harris describes the 2024 race as one in which “the stakes […] were exceptionally high” (287), fueling her determination to do everything she could to win. Throughout the race, Trump made ample use of “[h]urtful and degrading comments” (77). Trump is presented as the antithesis of the values Harris and her campaign stood for. While Harris strove to bring Americans together, the text emphasizes that Trump used lies, misinformation, and scaremongering to deepen the public divide.

Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota and a former congressman, was Harris’s pick for vice president. When interviewing vice presidential candidates, Harris was immediately drawn to Walz’s “appealing authenticity” and ability to be “genuinely self-deprecating” (90). Walz is a Midwesterner by birth. He is “a farmer, factory worker, Army National Guardsman, social studies teacher, football coach, and Democrat,” whom Harris believed would help her connect with rural American voters (90). His all-American biography had the makings of “several Hallmark movies” (100) and included coaching a failing football team to win the state championship and advising his school’s first gay-straight alliance. As a straight, white family man and moderate liberal, Walz represented the demographic the Harris campaign feared might be reluctant to vote for a woman of color for president. His presence on the campaign trail was meant to reassure Middle America of their centrality in the Democratic Party.

The qualities that made Walz a good running mate—his empathy and ability to connect with people—also made campaigning difficult for him. He was unprepared for much of the cruelty and pressure he encountered on the campaign trail. For instance, when the Trump campaign attacked his record as a National Guardsman, Walz “was outraged by the unfairness” (203). Harris sometimes had to give Walz pep talks and remind him to be “resilient” (203).