KTLA

Kamala Harris shares her Wordle winning streak strategy

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a visit to Thomas Elementary School in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

(The Hill) – Vice President Harris is spelling out her strategy for one of her favorite gaming hobbies, boasting of a perfect Wordle score.

The VP told The Ringer that she repeats the same word every day when she’s playing the uber-popular New York Times five-letter guessing game: “notes.”


“I think that you have to have a healthy mix of consonants and vowels, and a lot of words come with an ‘s,’” Harris told the website in an interview published Monday.

The approach has led to a 48-game winning streak, according to Harris.

The 57-year-old vice president first revealed her Wordle routine last week during a Democratic National Committee fundraiser.

“When I can’t sleep, I’ve been doing Wordle,” she said.

But Harris said her travel schedule often doesn’t allow for some Wordle downtime.

“Listen, it’s not like I’m going to a beach when I travel. It’s 13-, 14-hour days and, you know, little sleep. So, yeah. Wordle gets put aside,” she said.

Harris said it takes her, on average, four out of six tries to correctly guess the daily answer.

Asked if she’s ever lucked out and guessed correctly on her first attempt, Harris replied, “No, but I’ve had six on the second word.”

Harris said she’s not committed to only one word-focused game: “My nighttime ritual is the mini New York Times crossword. And then sudoku, although I don’t think I’ve pronounced that right ever.”

“Wordle, for me, is like a brain cleanser. So it’s in the middle of very long days, back-to-back meetings on a lot of intense issues,” she said. “If I have a break, let’s say that people are running late or my little 25 minutes for lunch, sometimes while I’m eating I’ll figure out Wordle.”

But Harris lamented that she can’t subscribe to another game, The New York Times’s Spelling Bee, ostensibly due to security limitations on her phone.

“[The New York Times app doesn’t] let you play all the way through and it’s really frustrating. They do let you get to, like, in the 20s and then they turn you over and say, ‘You’re really good at this! Would you like to subscribe?’” Harris said.

“It’s really annoying, but it may actually be for the best because I’d probably otherwise spend too much time at night not sleeping.”

She also can’t join the world of Wordle score trumpeters and post her standing on social media or via text message.

“No, because my phone does not let me do that. My phone doesn’t let me text anybody, which is sad,” she said.

Harris said she was almost tripped up by the Wordle answer on the day she was interviewed. But she managed to come up with the word, “shame,” on the sixth and final try and not mess with her winning streak.

“Because I have 100 percent, and I intend to keep it that way,” she said.