California Democrats – and Kamala Harris – are facing questions on whether Harris should run for governor in 2026 or run for president again in 2028, as if the new political landscape will not allow her to do both.
Democrats on the record are running from the question.
“I have no comment,” Rep. Dave Min, D-Calif., told CNN. “I have no comment on that, sorry.”
Min quickly left reporters to bolt to the House floor to avoid expounding on the Harris topic.
“I welcome her to the race,” vulnerable Rep. George Whitesides, D-Calif., who won his mass mail-in election in the state by just 8,000 votes, told CNN.
“I’m just really focused on my own race, but if that’s what she feels calls to do, that’s her prerogative.”
Losing a presidential election used to be akin to a political death sentence, but President Donald Trump completed his revival after nearly being assassinated in 2024, and now Harris has two big jobs she could run for, if not both.
“Once you’re the vice president of the United States, there’s only one place to go: It’s president,” Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., told CNN. “For me, if I was vice president and all of a sudden I lose, it would be a fallback to me. I hate to put it so bluntly.”
CNN reported the governorship would be an easier victory than another presidential run for Harris, but the aspirations to be president also carry a lot of weight in her decision.
“They’re still healing, and they want to make sure that she is fully healed,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., told CNN, noting “those decisions are incredibly personal.”
“She should certainly run if that’s the thing that she wants to do. She is certainly California’s girl. We have been rooting for her for so long.”
Losing the presidency still stains a political candidate, even if a gubernatorial victory in California in 2026 is her’s if she wants it, and some Democrats fear a backlash on the party if she is the one who loses to another Republican presidential candidate.
“There’s no groundswell for her candidacy,” one Democrat, afraid of putting their name on the statement to CNN, said. “In fact, I think it would only fire up Republicans and hurt our ability to win the four to five seats that we need to win to win the House and hold on to three seats that we just flipped in 2024.
“She comes in with baggage.”
Donors and insiders also noted to CNN that Harris has to answer for former President Joe Biden’s shortcomings, including the long denied cognitive decline, a narrative Harris was front and center on before she ultimately benefited from his ouster, being handed the Democrat nomination for president without having to run a primary.
But perhaps Harris has the cachet to win the White House, having gone toe to toe with Trump, other Democrats told CNN.
Count Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif. – who has had “an uneasy relationship with Harris at times,” CNN reported – in the column for Harris running for governor.
“As someone who served as district attorney, attorney general, and senator from California, she would have the experience, leadership, and understanding of the state legislature to tackle two of the biggest problems in the state: the lack of affordable housing and a sense of a lack of public safety,” Khanna told CNN.
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