Hundreds of people filled the nearly sold out 1,500-seat theater of The Town Hall in downtown New York on Wednesday, September 24, as former Vice President Kamala Harris took the stage to discuss her newest memoir “107 Days,” which details her journey through her presidential campaign in 2024.
Harris’s “107 Days” was published by Simon & Schuster on September 23, 2025, with her book tour announced in mid-August of this year.
“I dedicated my book to my team,” said Harris at the book tour opener in Midtown Manhattan. “I very rarely ever refer to them as my staff because we really are a team,” she said.
In conversation with Journalist and event moderator Aaron Parnas in the first stop of her multi-state book tour across three countries, Harris spoke about her journey as the first woman to hold the position as Vice President of The United States and how she balanced that while running for President in the 2024 presidential election.
For New York resident and audience member Nekhidia Harris, she thought Kamala gave a strong start to her book tour by starting off day one in “The Big Apple.”
“By starting [the tour] in New York, it sets a tone that we are together, and even though people try to divide us, as New Yorkers we come together,” she said. Nekhidia added that she looks forward to reading “107 Days,” and that Kamala inspired her during the event, encouraging her to fight for human rights and “common liberty.”
Kamala uncovered personal stories from the moment she got the call from President Joe Biden informing her that he was dropping out of the race and endorsing her as the Democratic candidate on July 21, 2024, to the moment she realized her campaign fell short against President Donald Trump, an emotional moment in time that she said she can only compare to how she felt when her mother died. “I was so scared for our country,” she said. “I knew what it would mean.”
“We ourselves have light inside of us,” said Harris to encourage the audience. “We see the light in each other, and we cannot let that light be extinguished or dimmed, because of one election, a circumstance, or an individual.”
While many attendees felt a sense of pride and inspiration during the event, that sentiment wasn’t shared throughout the venue, with the event being interrupted throughout the course of the evening by at least three pro-Palestinian protestors yelling about the “bombings” and “genocide” happening in Gaza, telling Harris “the blood of Palestinians is on [her] hands” before being escorted out by security.
Analysts at Brown University have reported that during the Biden Harris administration, Israel received more than $17.9 billion dollars in direct U.S. military aid.
While the crowd was in an uproar, Harris took a stand and responded to the demonstrations, telling the audience to “bring the temperature down.”
“I understand what is happening right now in Gaza, what is happening to the Palestinian people, and it breaks my heart,” she said.
These political demonstrations continued on the outside of the event, with pro-Palestinian protestors yelling, beating drums, and waving the Palestinian flag high above the crowd.
One demonstrator, Nicole Aboujaoude, who has family in Lebanon, said she felt a calling to the event because she spent the entirety of the Biden Harris administration “begging them to stop bombing [her] family and the Palestinians overseas.”
“We come here and we are pleading for humanity,” she said. “We want people to understand that we are still people and not terrorists.”
Sarah Hidey, an event attendee and Harris supporter who was waiting in line for the start of the second event of the evening, expressed her concern about the public protestors.
“When I see people protesting someone who is not in office about a situation that has been made so much worse because this person is not president, it increases the fury I feel,” she said.
Hidey said she works with a company who partners with refugees to place them in safe houses and provide resources for those in need, adding that she agrees with the protesters’ cause, but not their actions.
“In the sector I work in, I see everyday the lives that are being lost because of the current administration and because Kamala isn’t president…When I see protestors who are still protesting against Kamala but they’re not protesting the current administration for the horrors and the deaths that they are causing, there is nothing that infuriates me more,” she said while wiping the tears from her eyes.
Harris mentioned the speech she gave at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in March 2024, where she recognized the lives lost overseas in Gaza, stating that she received a lot of backlash from the administration from going public about her stance, being the first person at the highest level of the U.S. government to publicly speak on the subject at the time.
“Our hearts break for the victims of that horrific tragedy and for all the innocent people in Gaza who are suffering from what is clearly a humanitarian catastrophe,” she said in the speech.
“People in Gaza are starving. The conditions are inhumane. And our common humanity compels us to act.”
Event attendee Cheryl Noel said this communal support was also present at the book tour event and left her feeling proud of the New York community and hopeful for its future.
“This was a beautiful reminder to not lose hope,” she said, holding a copy of “107 days” close.
Some audience members, including Noel, thought this tour may be hinting at a possible Harris campaign for the 2028 presidential election, while many New Yorkers are still wondering what is next for former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Towards the closing of the event, Harris announced her endorsement of New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, stating that she is “excited” about his candidacy and reminding the audience about the power of the people. “This is so powerful,” she said over the cheering crowd.
Harris ended the event by giving the audience one final piece of advice.
“Please remember how you felt during those 107 days, and remember that it is still in you to feel that way in terms of believing in and working on who and what we are and can be as a country,” she said.
“This is our country, guys, and right now we’ve got to fight for it.”
