Vice President Kamala Harris has privately told advisers and allies that she is "staying in the fight" and keeping her options open for running as governor in her home state of California in 2026 or president in 2028, according to Politico.
Harris, who lost to Donald Trump decisively in the presidential election this month, is expected to lay the groundwork for a political comeback over the holidays, according to five people in her inner circle.
"She doesn't have to decide if she wants to run for something again in the next six months," said a former Harris campaign aide. "The natural thing to do would be to set up some type of entity that would give her the opportunity to travel and give speeches and preserve her political relationships."
The Politico report asserts that Harris will speak out against Trump and reaffirm herself as the leader of the Democratic Party.
"There will be a desire to hear her voice, and there won't be a vacuum for long," a person close to Harris said.
When Harris leaves the Naval Observatory in early 2024, it will be her first time out of elected office since she was sworn in as San Francisco district attorney in January 2004.
Former Harris aide Brian Brokaw told Politico that Harris "is not someone who makes rash decisions."
"She takes, sometimes, a painfully long time to make decisions." Brokaw said. "So, I would pretty much guarantee you she has no idea what her next move is."
"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," Brokaw told the news outlet.
"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?"
He added: "On the other hand, people can learn a lot from their previous adversity, too."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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