Summary
- Kamala Harris will not run for California governor.
- She is former vice-president and 2024 nominee.
- The decision leaves the California governor race wide
open. - Harris’ choice shifts Democratic contest dynamics
significantly. - The race now lacks a major high-profile candidate.
After departing the White House in January,
Harris, 60, who was previously California’s attorney general and US senator,
had been considering a bid for the state’s top position. However, “after
deep reflection, I’ve decided that I will not run for governor in this
election,” she stated in the statement. After failing campaigns in 2020
and 2024, the decision does not preclude a future run for public office, even a
third attempt at the White House.
“For now, my leadership – and public service –
will not be in elected office,”
Harris said in a statement, ending months of
speculation about her political future after losing the 2024 presidential
election to Donald Trump.
“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,”
she added.
With early polling indicating she was
Californians’ top pick, her impending decision effectively froze the contest to
replace Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who was term-limited. The election of
Harris as California’s leader will now take place in a political environment
that has been drastically altered by her defeat by Trump in November, which
sent the party into a state of introspection and paralysis.
The Democratic base has been more and more
incensed with its current leadership in the months that have followed, calling
for new leadership and a more aggressive stance against what they perceive to
be Trump’s increasingly authoritarian agenda.
In a nod to the discontent roiling her party,
and the country, Harris said: “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.”
Although fans who wanted to see Harris challenge
Trump once more in the last years of his presidency were disappointed by the
decision, Harris had not shown much enthusiasm for the idea of running the state
from the governor’s seat in Sacramento.
The Democratic candidates for governor in
California are primarily long-serving or well-known political figures, such as
Xavier Becerra, the former attorney general of California who worked alongside
Harris as the secretary of health and human services in Biden’s cabinet,
Antonio Villaraigosa, the former Democratic mayor of Los Angeles, Eleni
Kounalakis, the state’s lieutenant governor, and Katie Porter, a former
congresswoman.
The two most well-known Republicans in the
contest are Steve Hilton, a former Fox personality and advisor to former UK
Prime Minister David Cameron, and Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County.
Another longtime Trump supporter who has considered running is Ric Grenell.
In a statement, Villaraigosa commended Harris’s
leadership and said her decision “reflects her continued commitment to serving
at the highest levels of government”.
“We face critical challenges in California – and
we need a proven problem solver to tackle our affordability crisis,”
he said.
“Kamala Harris’s political career is over thanks
to President Trump,”
said Kollin Crompton, a spokesperson for the Republican
Governors Association, adding, perhaps prematurely:
“Americans across the
country can sigh in relief that they won’t have to see or hear from Kamala
Harris any longer.”
Since moving back to her hometown of Los
Angeles, Harris had kept a low profile and given few indications about her
political future. As protests broke out in response to the Trump administration’s
immigration raids in Los Angeles earlier this summer, she stayed largely out of
sight. She called the protest “a powerful tool” and expressed
solidarity for the “millions of Americans who are standing up to protect
our most fundamental rights and freedoms” in a statement released after
Trump authorized the deployment of national guard troops in Los Angeles.
When criticizing the activities of the Trump
administration, she has been selective. In a scathing address earlier this
year, Harris warned that the US president was exhibiting a “wholesale
abandonment of America’s highest ideals.”
On Wednesday, Harris vowed to remain politically
engaged.
“We, the People must use our power to fight for
freedom, opportunity, fairness, and the dignity of all,”
she said.
“I will
remain in that fight.”
What are Kamala Harris’s reasons for not running
for governor now?
Kamala Harris has decided not to run for
governor of California in the 2026 election after serious consideration and
deep reflection. She expressed a deep affection for California and its people
but concluded that her leadership and public service for the time being will
not take the form of elected office.
Instead, she plans to focus on engaging with the
American public, helping elect Democrats nationwide, and sharing more about her
future plans in the coming months. Harris left the door open for possibly
running for president in 2028.
Her decision reflects a desire to pursue change
through new methods and fresh thinking, acknowledging that politics,
government, and institutions have often failed the American people, leading to
a moment of crisis.
