Former Vice President Kamala Harris has began signaling to potential 2028 rivals that she’s not achieved with nationwide politics—and that one other White Home run stays very a lot on the desk.
The posture isn’t stunning, contemplating that Harris nonetheless polls at or close to the highest of early Democratic major surveys, at the same time as some social gathering leaders and donors privately query her general-election prospects after 2024. However identify recognition issues, and Harris has it in abundance.
Extra importantly, as veteran pollster Adam Carlson has famous, Harris maintains sturdy assist amongst Black voters—essentially the most consequential voting bloc in trendy Democratic primaries. The final time a Democrat gained the nomination with out at the very least a plurality assist from Black voters was in 1988.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to talk on the ultimate day of the 2024 Democratic Nationwide Conference.
In accordance with Axios, a number of strikes this week landed as early markers of a possible 2028 marketing campaign. Chief amongst them was Harris’ ebook tour, initially framed round 2024, throughout which Harris made pointed claims about fellow Democrats—remarks that seemingly didn’t endear her to everybody within the social gathering.
However the consideration has solely fueled momentum. Harris has expanded the tour for her ebook, “107 Days,” her account of final 12 months’s abbreviated presidential run. Early 2026 stops embody South Carolina—an important major state—and cities with giant Black electorates, together with Detroit, Michigan; Jackson, Mississippi; Memphis, Tennessee; and Montgomery, Alabama.
Operatives additionally took notice of Harris’ look on the Democratic Nationwide Committee’s winter assembly in Los Angeles, the place she mingled with social gathering officers and state chairs. Different potential 2028 contenders had been on the town, however none of them addressed the complete DNC gathering.
Throughout a Wednesday evening reception, the subtext wasn’t refined. DNC Chair Ken Martin launched Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, as the previous second gentleman and joked that he might sooner or later be the primary gentleman.
Then there’s Harris’ evolving rhetoric, which has raised eyebrows. Talking Dec. 12 to Democratic officers, she reportedly aimed toward each events and the political system itself.
“Both parties have failed to hold the public’s trust. Government is viewed as fundamentally unable to meet the needs of its people,” Harris stated. “People are done with the status quo, and they’re ready to break things to force change.”
The message aligns with polling that has proven for months a deep frustration with Democratic management and a want for figures prepared to confront President Donald Trump and his agenda extra aggressively.
“As we plan for what comes after this administration, we cannot afford to be nostalgic for what was in fact a flawed status quo and a system that failed so many. We cannot advocate for, nor settle for, a simple return to what existed in the past,” Harris added, calling Trump a “symptom” of a broader breakdown.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom can be believed to be eyeing a presidential run in 2028.
Spokesperson Kirsten Allen declined to remark straight on Harris’ 2028 plans however stated that she’s going to “approach 2026 with the same commitment that anchored 2025—listening to the American people, reflecting where leadership has fallen short, and helping shape the path forward beyond this political moment.”
However Harris, after all, isn’t alone in testing the waters.
None of it’s determinative—major polls are dialog starters, not forecasts.
Understandably, some Democrats need to flip the web page after 2024. However whether or not Harris is completed—or merely regrouping—stays an open query. For now, she’s performing like somebody who intends to maintain her choices very a lot alive.
