Dem
47
GOP
53
Kamala Harris is absolutely convinced she ought to be president. After all, the voters have rejected her only twice, once in 2020, and once in 2024, and you get three strikes, right? So on Friday, she confirmed that she is "thinking" of running for president. We are absolutely flabbergasted. A true bolt from the blue. When was the last time that a "potential" candidate announced that he or she was possibly available for some office and later said: "Nah, I'm not really interested." This is different from someone "thinking" about running, discovering that no donors were interested, and that polling was dreadful, and dropping out. In that case it was other people who threw cold water on the project, not the candidate flipping a coin about whether to run and having it come up tails. Harris is definitely going to try to mount a campaign. However, it could get shot down during the invisible primary in 2026 and 2027.
While traditionally the invisible primary doesn't start until after the midterms, Harris is taking no chances. She is on the campaign trail already. She is planning to headline fundraisers for at least four state parties (Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina) in April to test the waters. While going to Arkansas is pointless, Georgia and North Carolina are swing states and a majority of the Democratic voters in the South Carolina primary are Black. She is picking her venues with great care. Maybe going to help out the hapless Arkansas Democrats is a disguised ploy to get Bill Clinton's endorsement. Also, a few of the Walton billionaires are Democrats.
The 2028 presidential race will be wild and woolly on both sides. Democrats really, really want to win because there is so much damage to undo. Anyone other than a straight white man is probably too risky. We were tempted to say a "straight while Christian man," but Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA), who is Jewish, virtually guarantees Pennsylvania's 19 luscious electoral votes and would play well in the other Rust Belt states as well. Maybe some day being "different" in America will not be a problem, but if Harris couldn't beat a truly awful candidate like Donald Trump, how will she fare against a stronger candidate, especially if it is Marco Rubio, who will get votes from independents, moderates, and Latinos?
Many Democrats want to see fresh faces, especially younger ones. Harris will be 64 on Election Day, a year shy of being eligible for Medicare. Compared to Joe Biden and Donald Trump, she is a spring chicken. Still, when Democrats talk about their desire for a new generation of politicians, they are usually not thinking about people who could get Social Security just by filing a form. In 2028, there will almost certainly be a flock of younger candidates, possibly including Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) (41 on Inauguration Day), Ruben Gallego (49 then), Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) (50 then), Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) (51 then), Shapiro (55 then), and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) (55 then).
The mess in the California gubernatorial race shows how bad Harris' political ear is. If she had jumped into the race for governor, she would have been the instant frontrunner and Swalwell and many of the others might not even have gotten in. She would even have made history. While 53 women have served as governor of a state and 3 Black people have been elected governor of a state, no Black woman has ever been a governor. She would also be the first non-white-male governor of California, at least since it became part of the U.S. The last governor of California who was not a white guy was Pío Pico, who served as the final governor of Mexican California. Harris had an excellent chance of breaking some glass ceilings, but she was blinded by the light of the presidency. They all are. (V)