Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. USA Today/IMAGN Images.
Kamala Harris has declined to run in the 2026 California governor race, raising speculation that she would run for President in 2028. USA Today. Harris ran for President twice and served as VP under Joe Biden, but lost the 2024 election to Donald Trump. If she joins she would join a very wide field of candidates. A recent poll said that Harris was 2nd highest polling at 13%, only behind former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Harris has name recognition, but the 2024 race and the Biden presidency (and her role in not exposing Biden's senility). Harris would also likely face challenges to her left flank from progressives. Her decision leaves the California governor's race wide open.
My Comment:
I can't imagine that the Democrats would pick up a two time loser like Kamala Harris as their candidate in 2024. Though any Democrat would have been in a bad position in 2024 due to the fact that Joe Biden had to quit and she only had a very short time to campaign, Harris was uniquely bad and one that I can't see winning the nomination, let alone the presidency, in 2028.
Harris is one of the least charismatic people I have ever seen. I don't know exactly what it is about her but whenever I hear her speak I cringe. Maybe it's her nasal voice or her word salad speeches, but I just can't listen to her, and that would be true even if I agreed with her policies, which I don't.
She would also show that the Democrats would just be refusing to learn from the 2028 mistakes. I think much of the reason why Harris loss is she went full "boss lady". I can't think of something that would appeal less to young men, a group of people that have screamed to the right in 2024. Most young men have been under the yoke of women like Harris for their entire lives and they all have stories of teachers, bosses and even parents that care more about giving them a lecture about how terrible they are for being male, white and/or daring to ask for better treatment. Young men are not going to respond positively to a woman that just screams "I will lecture you and tell you how bad you are for existing".
Harris would face a challenge from the left too. I have no idea if the Israel-Hamas conflict will be relevant in 2028, but as of now, the progressive wing would hate Harris for being perceived as too supportive of Israel. And they, somewhat hilariously, think she is too far to the right on other issues. Harris could counter this with a leftward shift in the primaries and shift to the center during the actual race, but I can't see progressives being happy about that.
Harris would also have a lot of competition. Pete Buttigieg was mentioned and despite the fact that he was an absolute failure as transportation secretary, but he does have some charisma and has a baffling amount of support. Gavin Newsom has a pretty bad record as Governor of California, but he has charisma too and is reasonably attractive to boot, which would give him an advantage over Harris as well. And who knows who else could show up from the Democratic clown car (not that the GOP primaries are going to be any less wild).
Of course the biggest problem Harris has is the Biden presidency. Biden was a historically bad president and it didn't help that he was pretty obviously senile. Harris was also a failure herself, the one job she was assigned to, the border, was something she totally failed at. And given that Trump solved the border issue essentially immediately after being sworn in, it makes her look incredibly incompetent. I am guessing by 2028 the Democrats are going to act like the Biden presidency was nothing but a bad memory and they won't want Harris around reminding people otherwise.
Finally, it's probably way too early to be talking about this. We are barely six months into Trump's 2nd term and a lot can happen between now and 2028. Democrats are historically unpopular now and have shown no desire to learn a thing from the 2024 race. I am guessing that no matter what Trump and the Republicans do, it won't matter as folks are done with the Democrats, especially young men. I don't think that the Democrats have realized that they have made generational enemies with the young male cohort, and picking Kamala Harris would just be doubling down on that...
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