Sources close to former Vice President Kamala Harris say she is seriously considering a run for governor in California in 2026.
However, Harris hasn’t made a final decision on the gubernatorial election yet.
The sources told The Hill that Harris doesn’t consider herself done with public service, despite her crushing defeat in the 2024 presidential election.
The twice-failed Democrat presidential candidate has a “glimmer in her eye” when she talks about the possibility of running for governor, the insiders revealed.
“She has a lot of people in her ear telling her that it makes the most sense and she can do the most good,” one source said.
Another source pushed back on the idea that she’s seriously considering a gubernatorial run.
They are saying that the frequent conversations about doing so are happening because the time for making a decision is fast approaching.
Harris plans to take some time off in July for “self-reflection.”
She has reportedly set a self-imposed deadline at the end of the summer when she will make a final decision, other sources said.
The Democrat primary field is already crowded.
It includes former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who was also Health and Human Services Secretary under former President Joe Biden.
Harris has an early polling advantage, however.
Emerson College poll results in April showed her with 50% support from California voters.
A Politico/UC Berkeley Citrin Center also showed she was the frontrunner in the race.
Despite the early polling lead, some analysts don’t think she’s necessarily a shoo-in for the race.
“She would start out, at least initially, as the front-runner,” California-based Democrat strategist Gary South said.
“There’s no doubt about it because she has 100 percent name ID in California.
“I think there are real mixed feelings about her among California Democrats, and I think those mixed feelings would grow if she actually got into the race.”
“She doesn’t come into this as an 800-pound gorilla,” he added.
Questions have plagued both Harris and Becerra about their awareness of Biden’s decline and why they didn’t intervene.
Those questions would follow her into any political race she decided to enter.
In an attempt to weaken his potential rivals, Villaraigosa wrote last month:
“Voters deserve to know the truth: what did Kamala Harris and Xavier Becerra know, when did they know it, and most importantly, why didn’t either of them speak out?
“This cover-up directly led to a second Donald Trump term.”
Her devastating loss to Trump in 2024 could also become an issue in her campaign, analysts said.
