MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow confronts Kamala Harris for sidelining Pete Buttigieg ‘because he was gay’

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow put Kamala Harris on the spot for appearing to cross Pete Buttigieg off her list of potential 2024 presidential running mates “because he was gay.”

Harris joined Maddow on Monday night to discuss her book “107 Days” on her historically short presidential campaign in her first news interview since losing to President Trump.

In her book, Harris admitted that Buttigieg, the former US transportation secretary, was her “first choice” to join her ticket as a vice presidential candidate, though she ultimately picked Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota.

Buttigieg “would have been an ideal partner — if I were a straight white man,” but he was “too big of a risk,” Harris continued.

Maddow, who is gay, pushed Harris to “elaborate,” adding: “To say that he couldn’t be on the ticket effectively because he was gay, it’s hard to hear.”

Harris quickly jumped in.

“No, no, no, that’s not what I said, that he couldn’t be on the ticket because he is gay,” the former vice president said as she shook her head.

“My point is, as I write in the book, is that I was clear that in 107 days, in one of the most hotly contested elections for president of the United States against someone like Donald Trump, who knows no floor — to be a black woman running for president of United States and as a vice presidential running mate a gay man, with the stakes being so high — it made me very sad. But I also realized it would be a real risk,” she continued.

Harris said she has been an ally of the LGBT community her whole life, so there was no “prejudice on my part, but that we had such a short period of time, and the stakes were so high.”

She admitted that “maybe I was being too cautious,” and praised Buttigieg as “a phenomenal, phenomenal public servant.”

In her book, Harris wrote: “We were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man. Part of me wanted to say, ‘Screw it, let’s just do it.’ But knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk.”

She added: “I think Pete also knew that — to our mutual sadness.”

But Buttigieg said concerns about his sexual orientation were “not something that we ever talked about.”

He told Politico on Thursday that he was “surprised” to read Harris’ thoughts about the risk of their identities on the ticket.

Buttigieg said he believes in “giving Americans more credit” than simply assuming they wouldn’t vote for such a diverse ticket.