Former Vice President Kamala Harris announced Wednesday that she would not run for governor of California in 2026, ending questions about her interest in the role but raising new ones about the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee’s plans for the future.
“For now, my leadership — and public service — will not be in elected office,” she said in a statement released Wednesday. “I look forward to getting back out and listening to the American people, helping elect Democrats across the nation who will fight fearlessly, and sharing more details in the months ahead about my own plans.”
In the aftermath of her loss to President Donald Trump, Harris and her team indicated that she would take some time to assess her next steps, which included considering a run for governor of California or potentially another run for president in 2028.
Harris had loomed over the potential field in California as a heavy favorite, which still features several other prominent Democrats including former Rep. Katie Porter, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. The party is favored to hold the office in the deep-blue state.
But Harris also faced skepticism from some home-state Democrats, concerned about baggage from her unsuccessful White House campaign and the potential drag across the state’s battleground US House districts that could be pivotal in the midterms.
Amid the drawn-out deliberations, Harris had reached out to former California governors to ask what she could get done on the job and asked aides for research and memos that outlined other options.
Among those options: Starting a 501(c)(4) organization focused on the information ecosystem and how to empower younger voters while rethinking institutions key to democracy, creating a political action committee to raise money for other candidates, and doing a listening tour of Southern states with a 2028 presidential bid in mind.
Harris wanted to make the decision about running before an expected fall book tour was announced. That announcement is coming soon.
Her thinking, according to a person familiar with her deliberations, was that she would have time for all of these if she didn’t run for governor.
“I have extraordinary admiration and respect for those who dedicate their lives to public service — service to their communities and to our nation,” she said in her Wednesday statement. “At the same time, we must recognize that our politics, our government, and our institutions have too often failed the American people, culminating in this moment of crisis. As we look ahead, we must be willing to pursue change through new methods and fresh thinking — committed to our same values and principles, but not bound by the same playbook.”
Harris’ future
Two people who have spoken with Harris stressed that the announcement should not be taken as a definite sign she will run for president again.
Harris made the decision announced Wednesday after returning from a trip to the United Kingdom last week for the wedding of the daughter of her friend and longtime donor Laurene Powell Jobs.
For weeks, she had been giving people she spoke with the impression that she was edging away from running. She told one person who spoke with her that she felt she could have the biggest impact by leading “from the outside.”
Harris and several close friends worried that she would get caught up in the granularity of running for governor, especially because they figured she’d have to over-exert herself to prove her bona fides that she wasn’t taking the race for granted, and that would take her out of bigger discussions she very much still wants to be a part of.
“To run for governor, you have to get more specific and granular to what the legislature is working on – and she’s needed in the national conversation,” the first person who spoke to her told CNN. As for running for president again, “it means she doesn’t have to make a decision right now, but she can spend time leading.”
Part of what Harris wants to do is help Democrats in next year’s midterms. That could include campaigning directly but also would be a focus of the PAC she is looking at starting.
In California alone, there are more competitive House seats than the current margin Republicans have in the House. That number could go up if Gov. Gavin Newsom goes ahead with the mid-decade redistricting he says he’ll pursue if Texas changes its own lines to boost Republicans. But after last year’s presidential campaign, she could have resonance well beyond California as well.
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