Kamala Harris may not be running for governor of California, but make no mistake—she’s not going anywhere.
And that’s a major problem for the Democratic Party.
On Thursday, Kamala announced the upcoming release of a memoir about her disastrous 2024 campaign. Her party, still reeling from a devastating defeat to Donald Trump, would undoubtedly prefer her to fade from the public eye. But Kamala isn’t taking the hint. She’s still trying to be a national figure in a party that would rather pretend she never existed.
This refusal to fade quietly into political irrelevance is exactly what makes her such a liability. Rather than letting voters forget the embarrassment of 2024, Kamala is making sure it lingers. As NewsNation contributor Chris Cillizza put it, “The last big memory people have of her is she lost a presidential race and gave us a second term of Donald Trump. And I think that stink of defeat, the whiff of loss, is still on her.”
That may just be vodka, but you get the point.
It’s not just the loss—it’s how it happened. Kamala wasn’t the product of a competitive primary or enthusiastic support. She was shoved forward by a desperate party with no viable options—and arguably was a sacrificial lamb. The result? A resounding rejection from the American people, with Trump reclaiming the White House in a landslide, despite her spending over a billion dollars.
Now, as absurd as it seems, there’s little doubt Kamala still has her eye on another run for the presidency. Cillizza suggests she’s just waiting for the right moment—and that her team may be misreading polls showing her leading the field for 2028. These numbers, driven by name recognition and nothing more, are not indicators of actual support. “She was an unsteady and uneven candidate at best,” Cillizza reminds us. “She looked lost on the campaign trail and she dropped out before there was ever a vote cast in that 2020 race.”
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Her 2024 performance wasn’t much better. Once the novelty of “Harris isn’t Biden” wore off, voters quickly realized she had nothing else to offer. Even her decision not to run for governor is telling. Cillizza argues that if she were serious about a political comeback, a 2026 gubernatorial run would be her best shot: “She’d be governor of a gigantic state with lots of influence nationally… but she’s not doing that.”
Lost on Cillizza is that she likely figured out she wouldn’t win the primary, and losing such a race would destroy any chance of a future in elected office.
Nevertheless, Cillizza makes some good points. Kamala is not just a reminder of the past; she’s an anchor on the future. Every time she steps in front of a camera, Republicans are gifted another talking point. As Cillizza bluntly put it, “She will take all those 2024 ghosts into 2028 if she runs. And I just don’t think she has … the natural and learned candidate abilities to overcome that.”
Until Democrats confront this reality, they’ll keep dragging their 2024 baggage into every future election. And Kamala Harris will remain a problem they can’t solve.
