As Kamala Harris still deals with the hangover of the 2024 presidential election—as well as whatever happened in her recent video message to supporters—the big question on everyone's minds is about what her future political plans are. While rumors of a potential run for California governor swirl, a new report suggests Harris is urging her advisers and allies to "leave the door open" for another presidential bid in 2028.
Kamala Harris has been lying low since her defeat in the presidential race, unwinding with family and senior aides in Hawaii before heading back to the nation’s capital.
But privately, the vice president has been instructing advisers and allies to keep her options open — whether for a possible 2028 presidential run, or even to run for governor in her home state of California in two years. As Harris has repeated in phone calls, “I am staying in the fight.”
She is expected to explore those and other possible paths forward with family members over the winter holiday season, according to five people in the Harris inner circle, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal dynamics. Her deliberations follow an extraordinary four months in which Harris went from President Joe Biden’s running mate to the top of the ticket, reenergizing Democrats before ultimately crashing on election night.
Only Kamala Harris would spend more than a billion dollars to lose and still think she has a shot at the presidency again in the future.
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Democrat strategist Theryn Bond, however, told Newmax that Kamala should stay out of presidential politics.
Bond said she "can't really speak" for a potential run for California's governor for Harris, as "Californians seem to support her significantly."
But still, it's difficult to determine what that support looks like now that Harris lost her election.
"That may be the only thing that may make sense for her to consider, but another shot at the presidency, I hope she doesn't," said Bond. "If she is relying on those same advisers that advised her this cycle, that's not who I would listen to."
GOP strategist Luke Ball, also appearing on Tuesday's show, said he agrees that running for governor of California may be Harris' only shot at continuing her political life after losing to Trump.
"I think she might have a hand up in California because I think that's one of the only states where she might actually have an edge," said Ball.
Ball believes that Kamala won't have much political viability outside of California.
"I don't think she'd be able to get elected to dogcatcher," he told Newsmax. "If I'm a donor, if I'm a Democrat, I'm looking at this race and I'm looking at the aftermath as we start to go through the autopsy of the campaign, and I'm seeing that we're paying millions of dollars to celebrities to astroturf the campaign instead of spending that money on critical resources."
It sure would be interesting to be a fly on the wall during Kamala's private family conversations about her political future to get an idea of exactly what they think her chances are. I suspect that just as the Biden family was too distracted by the perks and power of the presidency to see Joe Biden's cognitive decline for what it was, Kamala’s family might also be too invested in the allure of power to recognize that her presidential aspirations are likely a lost cause.
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