Former Vice President Kamala Harris told stories of growing up with an immigrant mother who taught her to dream big and fight injustice, to a packed house at the Saenger Theater in New Orleans Tuesday night.
And Harris dispensed advice aimed particularly at many of the young Black women, telling them that they shouldn’t allow others to impose limits on them.
Inevitably, of course, politics bubbled up into the discussion between Harris and Brandan “BMike” Odums, a New Orleans artist.
“We are living under an administration that is authoritarian,” Odums said as he began a question midway through the hour-long event.
“Incompetent and corrupt,” Harris broke in, her words overwhelmed by applause from the crowd.
“This is a lame duck president,” Harris said several minutes later, adding, “They’re making a mistake when they think the American people are falling for this.”
But not once did Harris by name mention President Donald Trump, who defeated her 15 months ago. Nor did she discuss her political future.
Harris visited New Orleans in 2022, 2023 and 2024 to speak at the Essence Festival of Culture. She returned this week to resume a nationwide tour promoting her book, “107 Days,” an account of what happened after she suddenly became the Democratic candidate when President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on July 21, 2024, and endorsed her.
The book has been on the best seller list for 15 weeks and has sold 675,000 copies across various formats, according to Simon & Schuster, the publisher.
Copies of the book were displayed on shelves behind Harris and Odums, but she referred to it only a few times.
Former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks with Brandan “BMike” Odums at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)
Harris also timed her visit to coincide with Monday’s inauguration of her friend, New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno. She gave a shout out to Moreno, who was sitting in the front row.
Harris swore in Moreno in the morning at the Saenger, picked up lunch from Lil Dizzy’s restaurant – she ordered two pieces of fried chicken, dirty rice, greens and mango lemonade, said proprietor Arkesha Baquet – toured the headquarters of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club and then met Moreno for drinks and dinner at the Hotel Chloe.
On Tuesday, Harris toured Odums’ studio in the Bywater neighborhood and was fortified for her nighttime event with muffalettas and boudin brought to the Saenger by Moreno from the restaurant Cochon Butcher.
Tuesday night’s event was billed as “A Conversation with Kamala Harris.” Odums began by asking Harris about her formative years.
“I was raised by a mother who fought for everything she had,” Harris said. “I have seen and experienced, in particular, injustice and the suffering that results from that.
Odums asked about the weight of serving as the first vice president who was a woman, Black and also south Asian.
“We think status quo means static,” Harris said. “Oh, when you try to mess with status quo, you will see it’s quite dynamic, and it will fight against change. I’ve experienced that in many ways.”
People who follow politics want to know whether Harris will run for president again after she announced in July that she won’t run this year to be California’s governor, even though many pundits saw her as a shoo-in.
Mayor Helena Moreno chats with people as they take their seats for U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’s talk at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)
Odums never broached the question, noting at one point that he was an artist, not a journalist.
James Carville, the Democratic political strategist, praised Harris in an interview for “a really remarkable career” that included stints as San Francisco’s district attorney, California’s attorney general, a senator and finally Biden’s vice president.
That’s as far as she’ll go politically, he believes.
“In 2028, I don’t think the Democrats are going to look back to 2024,” Carville said. “I just don’t. Because they lost. There will be a whole flood of really good candidates.”
Donna Brazile, a former chair of the Democratic National Committee who is from Kenner, said it’s too early to worry whether Harris will campaign to be president in 2028. In the meantime, Brazile said, “She can play an extraordinary role in reminding voters of what they were looking for in 2024 and the many promises that Donald Trump has broken.”
U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, a Democrat whose district is anchored in New Orleans and extends up the Mississippi River to Baton Rouge, said he just wants Harris to remain involved.
“She’d do herself and the country a disservice if she did not explore all options about her future and what she has to offer America, whether it’s elected office or not,” Carter said. “There are a lot of places – in academia, non-profit, foreign affairs or elected offices – where it can be used.”
Harris may have given a hint about her future when she talked about her 2019 children’s book called “Superheroes Are Everywhere.”
“I don’t think you have to be in elected office,” she said, “to be a superhero.”
