Former Vice President Kamala Harris hinted she might run for president again, and Democrats would rather crawl over broken glass than deal with another Harris candidacy.
Politico interviewed almost 20 Democrat Party donors and strategists to gauge interest in Harris making another run for the White House.
The consensus seems to be that the former vice president wasted the past year after her 2024 defeat and has not laid the groundwork for an effective campaign.
Harris has offered voters almost nothing in the way of specifics about how she would remake a Democratic Party hungry for change after another term of Donald Trump. She hasn’t spoken to how she would expand her own appeal to the voters who rejected her and she remains as reticent of media as ever, continuing to favor appearances before friendly audiences and at times drawing fire for shutting out news organizations altogether. She has entirely sidestepped the ideological civil war consuming the Democrats and has acted more like a party elder at a time when voters and donors are demanding a break with the past.
“I don’t see anything different myself. It seems like more of the same to me,” said Jim Hodges, the former governor of South Carolina, the first state on the Democratic nominating calendar. “Right now Democratic primary voters … are very anxious about a Trump acolyte being in the White House in 2028. And they want to select someone who they think has the best chance to win, but who also meets these requisites: fresh, new. I hear a lot of talk about that — ‘we don’t need recycled candidates.’”
Many of Harris’ supporters are coming to that same conclusion, including in her home state, where several donors told POLITICO they’re actively shopping for candidates to back and have no desire to see Harris run. Even some who say they’d ultimately support Harris if she prevails are doubtful she can break through.
“I am looking at all kinds of candidates for 2028, and she’s not necessarily one of them,” said Laurie Black, a San Diego-based donor and longtime Harris supporter. “It’s not that I don’t think she’s qualified … [but] I want to support a winner in 2028, and I just don’t know if the vice president has the juice this time.”
Another California-based fundraiser could not think of a single person in their circle who wants Harris to run again.
“She probably could raise grassroots money because she has fabulous lists,” said the fundraiser, who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. “But there are no obvious big donors that have indicated they want to go down that route.”
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Gavin Newsom said he would not enter the 2028 presidential race if Kamala Harris decided to run. His remarks put the potential Democratic field in focus. https://t.co/2UV47YFJ8a
— Mark Clemens (@worldprey) October 13, 2026
Harris is reportedly laying the groundwork for a third presidential campaign in 2028. She’s been meeting with major donors, hiring staff, and traveling to battleground states to support Democrat candidates in the midterm elections — even though her husband, Doug Emhoff, privately told others he would rather she didn’t run again.
Kamala Harris said she’s considering another presidential run in 2028: “Listen, I might.” https://t.co/BVD1GnXVZ0
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) April 10, 2026
Donors have told Harris that another candidacy would be a long shot, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Publicly, Harris has not committed to another run. At a NAACP event in Michigan, she said, “I have not decided if I’m going to run again,” and “I do sincerely believe ‘28 won’t matter if we don’t get through ‘26.’”
A Financial Times/Focaldata survey released on Sunday found Harris leading with 30 percent support among Democrat voters, compared with 15 percent for California Gavin Newsom, who indicated he wouldn’t run if Harris throws her hat into the ring.
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