Former Vice President Kamala Harris spoke in Jackson at the newly reopened Thalia Mara Hall on Wednesday, stopping in Mississippi’s capital city for the second part of her book tour as she mulls another presidential campaign.
Harris was greeted with a warm reception from a packed audience at Thalia Mara, which had been closed since August of 2024 for renovations. Jackson Mayor John Horhn kicked off the event by awarding Harris a key to the city and announcing that he had signed a proclamation making Jan. 14 “Kamala Harris Day” in Jackson.
“Kamala, you don’t know what you mean to Jackson, Mississippi,” Horhn said. “You don’t know what you mean to America.”
Harris spoke for roughly an hour with Rita Brent, a comedian and writer from Jackson. Harris was in town to promote her book “107 Days,” which details what Harris called “the shortest presidential election in history.” Had she had more time to build her campaign — an opportunity denied by former President Joe Biden’s decision to keep running for re-election for a month after a disastrous debate performance — the election might have turned out differently, Harris said on Wednesday.
The then-vice president lost to Donald Trump in the popular vote and the electoral college. Her defeat ushered in an administration that is “corrupt, callous and incompetent,” Harris said.
Harris said she predicted what the administration would do, including efforts to eradicate the U.S. Department of Education and a widespread immigration crackdown. But she said she was caught off guard by the support President Trump has garnered from corporate leaders.
Jackson Mayor John Horhn presents former Vice President Kamala Harris with a key to the city of Jackson at Thalia Mara Hall on Jan. 14, 2026, in Jackson, Miss. Credit: Richard Lake/Mississippi Today“I have predicted almost everything that’s happened,” Harris said. “But what I did not predict was the capitulation, the titans of industry, the powerful people who just bent the knee to the foot of a tyrant.”
Harris called the Trump administration’s agenda a “swift implementation of a plan that has been decades in the making.” She criticized what she said are economically damaging tariffs, the spread of disinformation and attacks on consumer protections.
At one point, when lamenting President Trump’s conduct and likening him to other demagogues, she appeared to confuse the home state of the white-supremacist politician Bull Connor, who is from Alabama.
“Mississippi knows it well, Bull Connor, I mean, we know, we have had figures throughout history that have been about destruction and have not elevated our best angels or our better angels,” Harris said.
The newly reopened Thalia Mara Hall was packed for a book tour stop from former Vice President Kamala Harris on Jan. 14, 2026, in Jackson, Miss. Credit: Richard Lake/Mississippi TodayThe local crowd enjoyed a riff from Harris on the importance of participating in local government to help fix issues such as potholes, of which there are many in Jackson.
“Insurance doesn’t cover a flat tire,” Harris quipped.
Harris’s late-December decision to launch the second part of her book tour in the Deep South, where Black voters typically play a key role in the Democratic presidential primaries, sparked speculation about her future. She spoke in New Orleans on Tuesday and will also make stops in the critical primary state of South Carolina, along with appearances in Tennessee and Alabama.
Harris did not discuss her future plans on Wednesday. But she has said she has not ruled out another run for the White House and did not say anything that would dissuade attendees from assuming that.
She recounted writing her 2024 concession speech on the way to Howard University, adding one line: “Sometimes the fight takes a while.”
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