Kamala Harris Begged Joe Biden to Endorse Her After He Dropped Out of the 2024 Democratic Primary: 'This Is Important for Your Legacy'

Former Vice President Kamala Harris pleaded with former President Joe Biden to endorse her as his successor on the same day he made his historic move to drop out of the 2024 Democratic Primary.

According to FIGHT: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House — which was written by The Hill’s Amie Parnes and NBC News’ Jonathan Allen and is set for release Tuesday, April 8 — Harris begged Biden, "You need to endorse me," moments before the ex-president made his announcement.

The book revealed that Harris knew the nomination was coming her way, but she didn't want that big of a window between Biden's exit and his endorsement.

"She knew that if Biden stepped aside without explicitly backing her, it would be taken as a statement that he lacked confidence in her ability to win or to do the job —­ or both," Parnes and Allen wrote. "That could mean crib death for a battle that she had not yet begun to fight. She also knew that a failure to throw his weight behind her would suggest that he had made the wrong decision in choosing her as his number two in the first place."

According to the authors, the then-president called his VP hours before his exit to share his plans, and after taking time to figure out if he was making the right decision, she stressed the importance of timing.

Harris allegedly told her boss, "This is important for your legacy — to show that you have absolute faith in your VP."

When Biden suggested waiting a couple of days after his exit announcement to make the endorsement, Harris said it would create "too much daylight" and could risk “mischief and confusion" in the media, something Donald Trump would undoubtedly take advantage of.

When Biden ran his statement by Rep. James Clyburn, the South Carolina Democrat said "there’s something missing" and stressed the president couldn’t "leave the field without endorsing a successor."

Clyburn had the same apprehension as Harris that if Biden left without endorsing a name, it would lead to a "power vacuum."

One of the biggest names floating around as a successor then wasn't the vice president, but the Democratic Governor of California, Gavin Newsom.

"'[Barack] Obama’s going to try to rope me into some kind of mini-­ primary,' Clyburn thought. ‘It will be easier to fend him off if I’ve already endorsed Harris,’" the book read. "When Obama called that evening, the conversation lasted less than a minute. Clyburn said the party should unify behind Harris and that ‘anything else will lead to a real tough convention, which will lead to defeat at the polls.’"