The buzz around Kamala Harris has changed significantly, with more talk that she won’t run for president in 2028.
Back in July 2025, Kamala Harris decided to not run for governor of California, and I expressed some skepticism that she would run for president, and repeated my contention that her “frontrunner status will prove as durable as a sandcastle once 2027 begins.”
Some will interpret Harris declining to run for governor as a sign that she intends to run for president again, but her statement noted, “For now, my leadership — and public service — will not be in elected office.” If she does choose to run for president again, she is unlikely to get a warm welcome from her fellow Democrats. They will fairly ask what would be different from 2024, when she was handed the nomination in mid-summer and ended up going 0-for-7 in the key swing states and losing the national popular vote.
Lately the buzz is that Harris may not run for president again after all. Last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom made an unexpected comment while fly-fishing, on camera, wearing lapel microphones, with CNN’s Jake Tapper:
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: It’s going to be a lot of people.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Yes.
TAPPER: It’s a lot of Democrats.
NEWSOM: 31 flavors.
TAPPER: And you’re not even the only Californian.
NEWSOM: No, right? Yes.
TAPPER: You got Ro Khanna.
NEWSOM: Yes.
TAPPER: Kamala.
NEWSOM: Yes. I don’t know if she runs, but we’ll see.
TAPPER: I know she’s called around.
NEWSOM: Yes. But I wouldn’t run if she ran.
TAPPER: If she runs, you will not.
NEWSOM: Of course not. Why would I? I wouldn’t do that to her. I wouldn’t do it to me. I wouldn’t do that to you. I wouldn’t waste everyone’s time. Who needs that?
TAPPER: What do you mean? That doesn’t even make sense to me.
NEWSOM: I just I wouldn’t. No, I wouldn’t. First of all, electorally, it’s a gift from God for everybody else. They enjoy the hell out of it. Mutual assured destruction. It services no greater good.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Jake Tapper joins us now. So, Jake, if Harris doesn’t run in 2028, do you get the sense that Newsom would throw his hat in the ring?
TAPPER (on camera): Certainly. Absolutely. And I’ve heard it speculated that the reason he said that is because he knows that she’s not running. And this is a way to get goodwill, engender goodwill among Harris supporters. I don’t know that that’s true. I mean, and I don’t know that she’s not running.
Now, there are a million and one ways to answer Tapper’s question, but Newsom chose to declare, “I wouldn’t run if she ran,” and seemed to act like it would be absurd for him to run if she chose to run. Would Newsom say something like that if he didn’t know, or at least have reason to suspect that Harris wasn’t running in 2028?
Last night, Axios reported, “Many of those who know Kamala Harris best think she ultimately won’t run for the White House in 2028. . . . This week, we surveyed eight former Harris aides and advisers, including those who worked for her at a senior level, to get their most up-to-date read. Only one thought Harris probably will run. Two said it’s a coin-flip, and five said she likely won’t.”
Republicans certainly hope Democrats decide to nominate Harris again. But if you’re a Democrat, you’re going to have a lot of options who didn’t spend nearly $2 billion and go zero-for-seven in the key swing states.