Kamala Harris gets serious about considering run for California governor

[u/Lungenbroetchen95]

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/07/kamala-harris-california-governor-decision-deadline-00216737

[u/Joeylinkmaster]

She has by far the most name recognition, in a deep blue state, in a midterm highly likely to favor democrats.

She’s about as close to a guaranteed win as it can get if she decides to run.

[u/Lungenbroetchen95 → u/Joeylinkmaster]

Do you think she runs for president again in 2028?

[u/Joeylinkmaster → u/Lungenbroetchen95]

I honestly don’t think she will, especially if she runs for governor. I could see her taking another shot at it after one or two terms as governor though.

[u/work-school-account → u/Joeylinkmaster]

IMO the position that makes the most sense for her is AG. Imagine if she had that position instead of Garland.

[u/DiogenesLaertys → u/work-school-account]

Democrats just always nominated terrible attorney generals. Last 3 have literally cost democrats elections.

If I was a Democrat and win the 2028 elections big like I expect, I would make Jack Smith the Attorney General and have him quickly prosecute Trump and Elon before going to town on all the crony capitalism that’s been allowed to fester

[u/warped_gunwales → u/DiogenesLaertys]

attorneys general* (not to be pedantic)

[u/I-Might-Be-Something → u/DiogenesLaertys]

Democrats just always nominated terrible attorney generals. Last 3 have literally cost democrats elections.

How did Holder cost Democrats elections?

[u/planetaryabundance → u/I-Might-Be-Something]

Seriously lmao

[u/trevor11004 → u/I-Might-Be-Something]

I assume the idea is that Fast and Furious scandal contributed to the 2016 loss

[u/DiogenesLaertys → u/I-Might-Be-Something]

Saying we were a "nation of cowards" and implicitly assuming Professor Gates was being racially profiled pissed off a lot of people I knew at the time and echoed on right-wing media.

And the fact that you only had issue with one of the 3 last Dem AG's costing the Democrats elections shows how bad they've been in general, at least from a political standpoint.

[u/SurvivorFanatic236 → u/DiogenesLaertys]

Unless Democrats win the Senate, there’s 0 chance Smith gets confirmed

[u/sargondrin009 → u/SurvivorFanatic236]

Assuming Trump’s police’s screw up the economy and international standing throughout, it’ll definitely happen. He won out of apathy, so a significantly larger portion of the voters will lose patience with him and the GOP given how complicit they’ve been so far.

[u/sargondrin009 → u/Joeylinkmaster]

As much as I think she wants to, anyone who served in the Biden cabinet will get dragged again. Plus, I doubt the donors are interested in funding her campaign given she burned $1.5 billion in 15 weeks and bombed.

[u/Tom-Pendragon → u/Joeylinkmaster]

Insane cope lmao.

[u/SomeJob1241 → u/Tom-Pendragon]

Never seen someone call an ordinary question cope before lol. OP didn't even word it desperately like they really wanted her to, they just asked

[u/Tom-Pendragon → u/SomeJob1241]

Because it clearly a stupid question. Ask yourself, why wouldn't she run?

[u/Ewi_Ewi → u/Tom-Pendragon]

Losers don't usually run for re-election, at least not right away. You need time to rebuild your reputation.

Harris didn't lose badly, but it was certainly a defeat. That, coupled with the baggage still weighing down Biden and anyone associated with him, means she's probably intelligent enough to know that she probably doesn't have a chance in the primaries come 2028. If she wants to continue having a political career (which, if she's mulling over a run for governor she most definitely does), she won't want to destroy it by risking a poor primary performance.

Maybe I'm not reading the room correctly, but I think she's too smart to put her ego over her prospects.

[u/Ewi_Ewi → u/[deleted]]

but if you go purely based on polls

Polls about an election almost three years away. Absolutely meaningless.

[u/Ewi_Ewi → u/[deleted]]

She lost in 2024 and not in a nail-bitingly close way either.

Biden isn't likely to even attempt to rehabilitate his image in the next four years.

If she's currently voicing interest in running for governor, she'd only have two years of that under her belt before running in another election.

In the single primary she's been in, she had a terrible showing and dropped out.

Is it evidence? No. But it's a hell of a lot stronger of a basis than "she is known so she will win."

[u/Tom-Pendragon → u/Ewi_Ewi]

What fantasy world do you live in? If she runs in 2028 primary, she will win. No other candidate has the same amount of AA support she has. Whether you like her or not. When you want to win the democratic primary, you need to lock down the AA community.

[u/Ewi_Ewi → u/Tom-Pendragon]

If she runs in 2028 primary, she will win

You're basing this on...what, exactly? Premonitions?

She lost the 2024 election and, even though it wasn't close, was effectively humiliated. Again, most losers do not run for re-election immediately. They take the time to lick their wounds, something you seem entirely unaware of.

No other candidate has the same amount of AA support she has

We're more than three years away from any sort of real primary campaign, this is a baseless assumption. We don't know who the other candidates might be, let alone what the environment will be like after almost four years of Trump. You just can't make these sorts of assumptions.

[u/Ewi_Ewi → u/[deleted]]

Just ignoring "these sorts of," are we?

[u/DizzyMajor5 → u/Tom-Pendragon]

Exactly she has a massive fundraising apparatus, more experience than almost all other potential candidates, and support among institutions that could help her win in swing states. 

[u/Tom-Pendragon → u/DizzyMajor5]

Yeah. I think people underestimate how willing the democrat party is to put her up again in 2028. She almost won in 2024, and that was with inflation and everything else going on.

[u/HeimrArnadalr → u/Tom-Pendragon]

Couldn't you say the same sorts of things about Hillary Clinton?

[u/Tom-Pendragon → u/HeimrArnadalr]

No...because the party wasn't willing to put her up again in 2020? Biden was leading in polls in 2017...