After months of hypothesis about her political future, former Vice President and San Francisco Bay Space native Kamala Harris has dominated out one choice: governor of California.
Harris stated Wednesday that she is not going to enter the 2026 race to interchange Gov. Gavin Newsom, who’s serving his second time period and can’t run once more. Harris didn’t say what she plans to do subsequent, however her selection is the clearest signal but that she should still be contemplating a 3rd run for president.
“I like this state, its folks, and its promise. It’s my dwelling. However after deep reflection, I’ve determined that I can’t run for governor on this election,” Harris stated in a press release. “For now, my management — and public service — is not going to be in elected workplace. I stay up for getting again out and listening to the American folks, serving to elect Democrats throughout the nation who will battle fearlessly, and sharing extra particulars within the months forward about my very own plans.”
Since her loss to President Trump in November, Harris, 60, has spent most of this yr out of the general public eye, settling again into life in Brentwood and talking with confidantes about her choices: run for president for a 3rd time in 2028, launch a gubernatorial marketing campaign or finish a two-decade profession in elected workplace and enter the personal sector.
She has largely eschewed the limelight, often critiquing Trump’s actions however hardly positioning herself as a face of the resistance. In current months, she has greeted graduating highschool seniors in Compton, made a shock look on the Met Gala in New York Metropolis and attended Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ daughter’s marriage ceremony within the English countryside over the weekend. She has additionally reportedly written a memoir and is contemplating beginning a nonprofit targeted on younger voters and democracy or a political motion committee to assist Democrats.
Serving because the governor of California, a bulwark within the anti-Trump motion, would have given Harris one other shot at her political rival and a chance to rewrite the tip of her political story after a barrier-breaking profession.
Harris was the primary girl to be elected district lawyer of San Francisco, the primary girl to be elected California lawyer basic, the primary girl of coloration to be elected to the U.S. Senate from California and the primary girl elected vice chairman of the US.
Harris would have entered the race with important benefits, together with identify recognition and an unlimited nationwide community of donors. However she would even have run with an uncommon quantity of bags for a gubernatorial candidate, together with her loss to Trump, which dampened enthusiasm for her candidacy amongst some get together loyalists and fundraisers.
Harris stated she admires and respects public servants however there must be recognition that “our politics, our authorities, and our establishments have too usually failed the American folks, culminating on this second of disaster.”
“As we glance forward, we have to be prepared to pursue change by new strategies and recent pondering — dedicated to our identical values and rules, however not certain by the identical playbook,” the previous vice chairman stated in her written assertion.
Veteran Democratic strategist Sean Clegg, a longtime advisor to Harris, stated the previous vice chairman finally determined that her subsequent chapter can be targeted on political pursuits outdoors of elected workplace.
“I believe she listened to her intestine. … Clearly she noticed an enormous alternative, so she needed to contemplate it, however on the finish of the day she simply didn’t really feel known as,” stated Clegg, who has labored on Harris’ campaigns since 2008. “Till January of this yr … she’s been in public workplace constantly for 22 years and has spent her complete profession since she graduated legislation college in public service. I believe she’s been keen on exploring how she will have an effect from the skin for some time.”
Former Sen. Laphonza Butler, a longtime good friend of Harris’ who was appointed to fill the rest of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s time period, cautioned towards assuming that Harris’ resolution to not search the governorship meant she deliberate to run for president once more in 2028.
“I don’t suppose that we must always leap to any conclusions,” Butler stated, echoing Harris’ phrases about pursuing public service outdoors of elected workplace.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Lengthy Seaside) stated he knew it was a “troublesome resolution” for Harris. However he stated he was hopeful Harris can be a key participant in subsequent yr’s midterm elections.
“I believe she feels at this second she wants to assist Democrats win again Congress and assist Democrats throughout the nation. She feels an actual accountability about the place the nation is headed,” stated Garcia, who has identified Harris for greater than a decade. She swore him in when he was first elected mayor of Lengthy Seaside in 2014 earlier than he turned a member of Congress.
Harris’ resolution to remain out of the governor’s race might reenergize the sector as main donors and doable candidates come off the sidelines. Hours after Harris made her resolution public, former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced her assist of Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis within the gubernatorial race.
“Kamala Harris’s resolution is a strategic retreat for a candidate nonetheless reeling from a billion-dollar presidential loss,” stated Luis Vizcaino, who beforehand served as a spokesperson for Harris and two Democrats who wish to fill Newsom’s seat, Antonio Villaraigosa, the previous mayor of Los Angeles, and Katie Porter, a former congresswoman from Orange County. “She’s the strolling wounded, and this transfer clearly indicators her have to reestablish her model. It’s an enormous reduction for Democratic get together leaders and donors throughout California who, regardless of their loyalty, have misplaced confidence in her.”
Though candidates nonetheless have months to file their paperwork earlier than the June 2 major, Harris confronted strain to decide sooner as a courtesy to the candidates already within the race.
Her bowing out is “completely a sigh of reduction for candidates who had been elevating cash and attempting to construct a profile and preparing for this gubernatorial contest,” stated Paul Mitchell, vice chairman of Political Knowledge Inc., a voter information agency that works with Democrats and nonpartisan campaigns.
With out Harris, the sector of candidates for the governor’s mansion will nonetheless lack a candidate with actual star energy. Although the listing of Democrats working reads like a who’s-who of political energy within the Golden State, none are family names.
Along with Villaraigosa and Porter, the gubernatorial hopefuls embrace Toni Atkins, a former Meeting speaker and Senate president professional tem; Xavier Becerra, former California lawyer basic and Biden Cupboard secretary; Stephen Cloobeck, a philanthropist and businessman; Kounalakis, the state’s lieutenant governor; Tony Thurmond, the superintendent of public instruction; and Betty Yee, the previous state controller.
Restricted public polling has proven that with out Harris within the discipline, Porter has an edge over her Democratic rivals, however many citizens are undecided.
Democratic gubernatorial candidates who weighed in on Harris’ resolution showered her with reward.
Porter known as Harris a “targeted chief” and recalled the work they did collectively through the housing disaster. (She additionally promptly despatched a fundraising e mail to supporters noting that Harris determined to not run.) Kounalakis known as her a “trailblazer, a fearless fighter for justice, and a pricey good friend.”
Becerra pointed to their service collectively in Biden’s cupboard and famous that he succeeded Harris as California’s lawyer basic. “She has at all times put working households first,” he stated. Villaraigosa stated he knew the previous vice chairman “will proceed to be a strong voice for justice, equality, and alternative.”
A crucial query is whether or not Harris weighs in on the race, which incorporates many politicians with whom she has had lengthy relationships. A supply conversant in Harris’ pondering stated she remains to be contemplating whether or not and learn how to method the governor’s race, in addition to different California contests. Harris has already acquired endorsement requests from federal and native officers, stated this individual, who was granted anonymity to talk candidly.
There are two well-known Republicans within the race: Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who has stated he would have “welcomed” the prospect to run towards Harris; and conservative commentator Steve Hilton, who known as Harris’ resolution “nice information” as a result of “the very last thing this state wants is one other ineffective machine politician making issues even worse.”
One final result is definite, stated Lorena Gonzalez, head of the highly effective California Labor Federation.
Between a newly aggressive 2026 gubernatorial race and a possible particular election in November about redrawing the state’s congressional districts to spice up Democratic numbers in Congress, “we’re principally a yr and a pair months of political mayhem,” she stated.
