While Harris has been hunkered down in Hawaii since conceding to President-elect Donald Trump, she has been telling her advisers and allies to keep her options open, repeating in various phone calls, "I am staying in the fight." The now-twice-failed presidential candidate is entertaining either a run to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D.) in 2026 or another presidential bid in 2028.
"Could she run for governor? Yes. Do I think she wants to run for governor? Probably not. Could she win? Definitely. Would she like the job? I don't know. Could she run for president again? Yes," Brian Brokaw, a former Harris aide who has remained close to her circle, said. "Would she have a whole bunch of skepticism from the outset, because she has run in a full-length Democratic primary where [in 2019] she didn't even make it long enough to be in the Iowa caucus, and then she was the nominee this year?"
Some Harris aides think the vice president will be an "X factor" in the next Democratic primary. Harris is the current frontrunner in a new poll for the 2028 primary, holding a decisive 41 percent of Democratic support, outpacing other prominent party figures such as Newsom and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
"She proved a lot of skeptics wrong as a political athlete. And her standing with the public is as good as any Democrats with the name I.D. that she has," a Harris ally told Politico.
Harris's polling edge, however, is not unusual. Surveys taken in the two months following the 2016 election found Hillary Clinton with a significant advantage for the 2020 primary.
An anonymous Democratic strategist, meanwhile, told Politico that Harris's candidacy has run its course.
