Democrats are sounding the alarm over Kamala Harris running for president again — saying she should have settled for being California governor.
The former vice president has been warned if she enters the 2028 White House race she will face a “real burden” of defending her past failings in DC.
Matt Bennett, co-founder and executive vice president for the center-left group Third Way, told the New York Times: “It’s conceivable that she could craft a message,” he added, “but she’s got a lot of explaining to do.”
Harris became the Democratic nominee for president after Joe Biden stepped aside, leaving her with 107 days to campaign.
But she was wiped out across America by Republican candidate Donald Trump, who swept all seven of the key battleground states.
Since then, Harris has been touring the country promoting her book and occasionally commenting on foreign policy.
She has said she “might” run for president in 2028 but has completely ruled out running for governor of her home state.
Bennett and others like him wish she wouldn’t have.
“She would have been good at it, and it would have been a good job for her,” he told the Times. “It would have been good for Democrats everywhere.”
Currently, there are eight candidates running for governor in the controversy-stricken and surprisingly competitive race for Democrats in a stronghold for the deep-blue state, which has consistently voted for a Democratic president since 1988, when it voted for George H. W. Bush.
The last time the state had a Republican governor was Arnold Schwarzenegger nearly two decades ago.
Since the abrupt exit of disgraced Eric Swalwell, who was the favored Democrat before being accused of sexual assault by multiple women, the race has shifted.
Democrats, who were already struggling in a field that appeared to be dominated by Trump-endorsed Steve Hilton and Republican Chad Bianco, now appear further divided.
While Becerra has emerged as the leading Democrat, the party’s vote remains split among Matt Mahan, Tom Steyer, Katie Porter, and others.
A year ago, polls suggested the race would be a cakewalk for dems if Harris ran.
“It’s pretty obvious she would have dominated the race,” Lara Bergthold, a longtime political consultant in Hollywood, said. “It felt like it was an easy win and an easy walk into the governor’s mansion here.”
June 2025 polls found Harris well above the 30s among favored Democrats to win the race, and an even earlier poll suggested she would dominate with over 40% of the voter base in opposition to Republican opponents.
“I get the feeling that she wants to play on the national stage,” Bergthold added.
While Harris may want to, other Democrats seem to have a distaste for the idea of another —now her fourth —presidential run in two years, when some of her rivals could include close friend and rumored candidate Gavin Newsom.
NOTUS, a nonprofit digital news outlet, spoke to several politicians on whether they would back the former vice president, and their responses were underwhelming.
Many top Democrats, including the state’s senators, shied away from a glaring endorsement, while former allies and Harris campaign surrogates like Mark Cuban said he wouldn’t support her run.
One anonymous House Democrat told NOTUS they would have preferred Harris pursue a gubernatorial path instead, adding, “I don’t think I’m alone in this view, that I would have real concerns about her being the nominee.”
Another Democrat warned that while Harris’s name recognition makes her a natural contender, “Is that a good thing for the party and the country (if she’s) the nominee? No.”
The California jungle primary works in a way where the two candidates with the highest number of votes on June 2 advance to the general election, regardless of party.
Harris can still join the race, but she would have to move fast.
Under California law, voters may write in a candidate for governor during the June primary election; however, only votes cast for “qualified” write-in candidates—those who have properly filed required paperwork and nomination signatures with the Secretary of State—will be counted.
To advance to the November general election ballot, a write-in candidate must place among the top two vote-getters in the primary election.
“California, it’s like running a country,” Sunny Hostin, a co-host of “The View,” said on the morning show. “I know that she’s talked about being president—I don’t know if that’s the right position for her—but my goodness, she certainly knows California.”
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