Kamala Harris at Atlanta book event: 'This is our country'

Caption

Lynae Vanee interviews former Vice President Kamala Harris at the Tabernacle in Atlanta on Oct. 8, 2025.

Credit: Kristi York Wooten / GPB

Former U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris promoted her book, 107 Days, at Atlanta's Tabernacle Wednesday evening in a conversation moderated by Spelman College alum and social media influencer Lynae Vanee.

Around 1,200 people filled the venue to hear Harris during her first public event in the city since her loss to President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath mixed with the crowd as a soundtrack of Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and Chaka Khan tunes thumped from the loudspeakers. Former U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young and state officials also attended.

Audience member June Grayson said she hoped Harris would provide insight into her election loss: "What was it like?" 

Grayson's friend, Pamela Weston, said she wanted to learn more about Harris's book and "to know her plans for the future, if she is going to run again."

James Griffith and his partner Jennifer Eggerud came to the event together.

"We've always been impressed with her, being the first woman VP," Griffith said. "And we were hoping for better results [in the election]. My girlfriend is a big fan."

Vanee took the stage at 6:45 p.m., and the house erupted with deafening cheers at the first glimpse of Harris as she made her way to the set of comfy armchairs in front of a bookshelf filled with copies of 107 Days — the number of days between the announcement of her presidential campaign (the shortest in the modern era) and Election Day in 2024.

The book topped the New York Times Best Sellers list the week of its release in September.

Caption

Former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a book tour event in Atlanta on Oct. 8, 2025.

Credit: Kristi York Wooten / GPB

Vanee told the audience Harris handpicked her as host for this stop of the 15-city 107 Days tour because she first caught the vice president's attention with her viral Instagram clips a few years back.

During the conversation, Vanee engaged Harris in topics ranging from Megan Thee Stallion and Joe Rogan to TikTok, FEMA and self-care in dealing with concurrent problems such as misinformation and separate realities. The two women bonded over their HBCU education (Harris is a graduate of Howard University) to the delight of attendees, many of whom raised their hands and shouted in support of their own alma maters.

Previous stops on the tour saw Harris "getting increasingly spicy," as one audience member described to GPB. But the Atlanta conversation was less about political name calling and more into reflections and motivational speech, although Harris stood up to speak her mind about "the powerful forces trying to divide us," including interference from external "nation states."

Harris used the word "feckless" to describe her political opponents; it was "the only F-word" she'd use here, she said.

At times, the gathering felt like a group therapy session, with Vanee sharing her personal thoughts and Harris using conciliatory and hopeful language to assure the likely Democrat audience that the long game to challenging the GOP stronghold in Washington, D.C., may not be fixed in one election cycle.

"People are on edge right now," she said. "People are feeling overwhelmed by what feels like it's a very chaotic moment. ... But don't take yourself out of this. We cannot afford to put the blanket over our heads and say, 'Wake me up when it's over.' This is our country. Everyone."

Harris said writing the book forced her to deal with her emotions about the election loss. She said getting the call about election night results was the "only time that came as close to the grief I felt when my mother died."

Harris served California as attorney general and U.S. senator before running for vice president under President Joe Biden and recalled fulfilling her constitutional duty in certifying the results of the 2024 election on Jan. 6, 2025 and leaving D.C. on Inauguration Day after she and husband Doug Emhoff found out their Los Angeles was endangered (but not destroyed) by the devastating wildfires. 

Harris also repeated her "I told you so" claim about the campaign statements she made in 2024 saying Trump would implement Project 2025 and efforts "decades in the making." 

She did not rule out running for future office, but said she is focused on public service.

"No matter what your profession is or what you do every day, in some small or big way, we have chosen to serve," she said. "And I'm not walking away from that."

She returned to her "When we fight, we win" chant as the discussion closed. "We are going to get through this moment," Harris said. "Sometimes the fight takes a while."