In another scenario, the governor's race in California would have already come into play. The ambitious candidate would have appeared around the state. Donors would have started their favorite bank rolls and the organization would have begun to announce their support.
Instead, Kamala Harris went home.
The former vice president has shaken the 2026 governor's race with her mere presence in California after a stabbed defeat in last year's presidential election. Speculation has grown every week since she returned from Washington.
After returning to Los Angeles last month, Harris confronted Altadena firefighters, greeted evacuees at Red Cross shelters and toured the fire damage at Palisade in the Pacific Ocean. During her recent stop, she did little to quell the speculation.
“I will be here and regardless of the office I have.
That possibility makes it difficult for most other Democrats to move forward, and we recognize that if Harris participates in the race, the calculations they are currently making will be formulated. The 2026 contest, which replaces Gov. Gavin Newsom, which cannot run again due to period restrictions, currently lives with lesser known applicants.
“She hasn't frozen the field, but she definitely made it ice enough for everyone to slow down and take a step,” said the Democratic strategist who advised Newsom during the governor's campaign. One Dan Newman said:
According to someone with knowledge of her deliberations, Harris is weighing whether to run for governor next year, run for president in 2028, or pursue roles outside of elected offices. . She has put together an advisory team that includes former White House staff, veteran democratic strategists, policy experts, speechwriters and fundraisers.
Running for governor may seem a step back to someone who served as vice president for four years and was a Democratic candidate for the president. But in doing so, Harris has a strong chance to avoid the competitive throws of the presidential primary and with the help of fellow Democrats who control Congress, leading the country's most populous nation. Masu. Harris won in California every time he took part in a statewide vote. as a candidate for President, Vice President, Senator and Attorney General.
By this point eight years ago, when California last had its governor seat, the leading Democratic candidates had launched their campaign entirely, and Newsom emerged as the frontline of the poll. The primary is still 16 months away, but in California it will take longer than elsewhere for candidates to raise funds and become known to voters in the vast states with expensive media markets. .
So far, the declared Democratic candidates include Governor Li, the school principal, former mayor of Los Angeles, former state administrators and former legislative leaders. They have started raising funds and asking for support, but they are barely known to voters, making the race an unpredictable freedom.
Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kunarakis was the first to jump into the governor's race when he declared his candidacy in April 2023. At the time, the chances of Harris taking part in the race could have been in the minds of a few.
Kunarakis and Harris have been friends for over 20 years, so it's hard to imagine them running towards each other. Their friendship dates back to when Harris was the San Francisco District Attorney and Kunarakis ran a family home construction company in the same city. In a speech at the Democratic National Convention. Kounalakis could not comment.
While most Democrats are in standby mode, Harris's outlook for entry appears to have energized some Republicans. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco launched his campaign Monday. Steve Hilton, a Fox News commentator and former adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron, who lives in Silicon Valley, is also running. And Richard Grenell, who has a home in Manhattan Beach, California and envoy for President Trump's special mission, said last week he would consider running for California governor.
Such candidates will face a long-term odds in states that have not elected Republicans to their statewide offices since 2006 when voters re-elected Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor. However, Republicans believe that competing with Harris, especially after losing to President Trump, will inspire their supporters and attract more donations.
“She's going to be a very attractive enemy to Republicans,” said Matt Spe, a campaign strategist who advises Hilton.
If Harris is running, it would be a rare move for anyone who has come very close to the presidency. According to Joel Goldstein, an honorary law professor at St. Louis University who studied the history of the vice president, only four vice presidents ran for the governor, and one dropped out to support another candidate. .
In 1804, Aaron Burr lost the race for the governor of New York. This is the result of Mr. Hamilton's denunciation before he died in the famous duel. In 1894, Vice President Levi Morton under President Benjamin Harrison won the New York Governor race.
However, the most direct similarity was Richard Nixon. In 1960, then Republican vice president, Nixon lost the presidential election to John F. Kennedy. He returned to Southern California and ran for governor in 1962.
Nixon has pledged to adapt to the governor's racially narrow nature and visit every county in the state, according to news accounts. He concluded his sign in the rain in the hills of Sierra Nevada, photographed a “Coons Skin Cap” mountain man and played piano for a potato farmer near the Oregon border, the Los Angeles Times reported in February 1962. Ta.
In the 2026 governor's race, some prominent Democrats have yet to announce their intentions as Harris weighs her decision.
Katy Porter, a former lawmaker known for his viral moments that burned executives on Capitol Hill's whiteboard, has been meeting with workers' leaders and others who have influenced democratic politics in recent weeks. I've traveled several times to Sacramento. Lay the foundation for participating in the race. However, she also suggests that it is unlikely that she and others will take on Harris.
“If Vice President Harris chooses to run, I am sure it will have a field clearing effect that is closer to the democratic side,” Porter said in a post-election debate in December.
Another Democratic leader has decided to abandon the governor's race. California Attorney General Rob Bonta was considering running, but this month he asked for reelection as the state's top lawyer instead, and would support Harris if she ran for governor. It was announced.
Not all Democrats are scattered. The two candidates who position themselves as business-friendly moderates said they would stay in the race even if Harris jumped in. Antonio Villaraigoza, former Los Angeles mayor who failed governor in 2018 and worked for cryptocurrency company Coinbase, says he's running again because too many Californians struggle with living expenses. Ta.
“Nothing has changed for me, so nothing has changed,” Villaraigosa said.
Stephen Cloobeck, the real estate developer who gave the campaign to $3 million, said Harris' time in Washington was kept separate from California voters.
It is not clear when Harris will decide.
Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Labor Federation and former Democratic state legislator, said Harris's prospects for entry “slowed everything down.”
The Labour Federation invited the governor to speak with union members at an event in May and begin considering approval.
“I didn't think it was too early,” Gonzalez said. “But now it seems that may be.”
In 1962, when the Vice President returned home for the governor, Nixon Edmund G. “Pat” Brown lost to an incumbent in the Democratic Party.
It was a defeat that Nixon told reporters: “Gentleman, this is my last press conference.”
Six years later, he was elected president.
Orlando Mayorkin and Jesus Jimenes Reports of contributions. Sheila McNeill Contributed research.
