Vice President Kamala Harris just suffered a humiliating loss to the former and future President Donald Trump, but aides and allies are signaling that her political career may not be over.
Harris is now in Hawaii enjoying a long vacation with her husband, Doug Emhoff, but she is also using the time in paradise to take stock of her political future.
‘On the campaign, I would often say when we fight, we win. But here’s the thing, here’s the thing, sometimes the fight takes awhile,’ Harris said in her concession speech the afternoon after Election Day.
Advisers and allies say they have been instructed by the vice president to ‘keep her options open’ according to Politico.
She could run for president again in 2028, or even run for the open governor seat in her home state of California in 2026. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who came up through California politics with Harris, is term limited and may eye a 2028 run for White House himself.
At the moment, however, Democrats appear too stunned by the results of the election to start planning the resistance for the 2026 midterms and 2028 bid to retake the White House.
‘Democrats are shell-shocked,’ party strategist Brad Bannon told the Washington Examiner.
‘I think most Democrats thought that Harris was going to win … they’re kind of in a coma right now.’
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks with members of the press aboard Air Force Two
Political insiders told DailyMail.com that they expected Harris to retool and prepare to run for president again in 2028.
‘Of course she’s going to try and run again,’ one well-connected Democratic strategist told DailyMail.com, citing Harris’ ambition as a factor.
A post-election poll shows that Democratic voters are open to a Harris comeback.
She led with 41 percent of Democrats in a Puck News/Echelon Insights survey, while other possible candidates remained in single digits.
However, the poll also showed that 59 percent of Democrats would like to look beyond Harris when searching for a champion to lead them out of the political wilderness.
Despite some hesitation, Harris has generated a lot of sympathetic reactions from professional Democrats in Washington.
They describe her campaign as ‘near flawless’ but say she struggled to separate herself from President Joe Biden’s record.
One strategist compared her to the backup quarterback called in to win a football game after the team was already down in the fourth quarter.
‘I think she did the best she could,’ he said.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. first lady Jill Biden, second gentleman Doug Emhoff and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin listen to U.S. President Joe Biden remarks during a wreath laying ceremony on Veterans Day.
Maya Rudolph, left, and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris during the pre-election cold open on ‘Saturday Night Live’
In 2028, Harris will be only 63, young enough to make a political comeback, especially if Trump’s second term is a failure.
Now that current Gov. Gavin Newsom is term-limited, there may be an opening for her to run for governor of California.
A poll of California registered voters taken before the presidential election showed that 46 percent said they would be likely to support her for governor, according to the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies survey co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times.
It’s unclear, however, whether Harris would be interested in running for governor, as it could be perceived as a step back from her role as vice president.
Strategists admit that Harris has to make some radical changes if she does plan to be a candidate for president again.
The most glaring issue, they say, is her struggle to communicate to the public.
‘Even when she’s talking forever, she’s not really saying much at all,’ one said.
One Democratic communicator said that her rapid rise from a district attorney to the Senate and Vice President of the United States was partially to blame for her struggles as a candidate.
‘This is someone who had a meteoric rise, her Achilles heel has been not having her own political identity, it created this blanket of caution that really f***d her up,’ he said.
For Harris to win again she would need to finally define herself outside of her own ambition.
US President Joe Biden (R) along with vice president Kamala Harris (L)
‘Kamala can run again and hopefully will improve as a messenger but I think the concerns about her ability to convey a coherent message still remain,’ he said.
More damaging than ever to her campaign was her leftist positions she took during her 2019 campaign, such as banning plastic straws and taxpayer funded gender surgeries for illegal immigrants in prison.
In 2028, Harris would need to explain why she took those previous positions on issues and explain to voters why she changed her mind.
‘Her 2019 rhetoric came back to haunt her and she didn’t have a good explanation why any of those positions had changed,’ one consultant said.
