Kamala Harris has misgivings about government. Some Dems have misgivings about her.
There’s a swath of the party that would be glad if Harris doesn’t run in 2028 — or campaign actively in the midterms. (==Wow they really don’t like her. Long article, cut short)
SAN FRANCISCO — Kamala Harris didn’t shut the door on another White House bid when she announced she isn’t running for California governor. But she vented about the limitations of government, telling Late Show host Stephen Colbert on Thursday that she doesn’t “want to go back in the system” for now.
Many Democrats feel the same about Harris.
Interviews with nearly two dozen Democratic officials and operatives following her announcement this week reflect a swath of the party that would be glad if Harris didn’t run in 2028. Moreover, they hope she’ll stay on the sidelines in the midterms.
“If she was gravity for our candidates running in center-right districts in 2024, then she will be gravity for them in 2026,” said Lauren Harper Pope, co-founder of WelcomePAC, which supports center-left candidates.“So,” she added of Harris’ pledge to campaign for Democrats, “no thank you.”
The fear is rooted in Harris’ defeat in 2024, and the baggage saddling not just Joe Biden, but also his former vice president. Harris, who until her appearance this week had kept an exceedingly low profile, remains a major fundraising draw and one of the Democratic Party’s most prominent figures — including a huge following on social media. Some Democrats have suggested she could be an active surrogate in 2026. Yet as they work to retake the House, many Democrats across the country are nevertheless now uneasy about any intervention from her in the midterms.
“Downballot candidates outperformed her in 2024, and she was a drag on them,” said a national Democratic operative granted anonymity to speak freely about Harris. “These candidates were able to win last year because they put distance between themselves and her and the national party. Why would we want to do that in 2026 when she’s not on the ballot?”
That is already the assessment in a frontline race in New York. Democratic Rep. Laura Gillen, a first-year member who flipped a seat on Long Island, will not be inviting Harris to visit her district next year as she defends her seat, said a Democratic operative familiar with the Gillen campaign who was granted anonymity to speak about a leader in the party. Harris won the district by 1.3 percentage points — underperforming Gillen, as well as Biden and Hillary Clinton, who had won the district by double digits.
“We will not be asking her to be a surrogate, and I don’t think she would necessarily be a good surrogate for us, given that we outperformed her,” the operative said. “Long Island likes people from Long Island. It’s hard with national figures — whether they win or lose.”
Across the country in Southern California, a Democratic strategist who was also granted anonymity to speak frankly said he would prefer Harris “go away” because voters equate her with Biden. The greater Los Angeles area, similar to metro New York, could be central to Democrats’ quest to take control of the House of Representatives.
“I wouldn’t want her in my district,” the strategist said.
Public polling continues to show Harris as a top contender in the still-unformed 2028 field. A July Echelon Insights nationwide survey found her leading a field of potential contenders with 26 percent, 15 points ahead of the nearest Democrat, Pete Buttigieg. That lead, however, marked a slippage from the edge she had in May, when she notched 32 percent.
People close to Harris said that while she’s preserving her options for a presidential bid, they did not see that as driving her decision not to run for governor.
“I don’t think she’s gotten her head around that yet,” said one Harris confidante, granted anonymity to speak freely, about the possibility of a third White House campaign…
Still, many Democratic strategists, including fans of the former vice president, remain ambivalent about her chances in 2028, despite early polling. They cited Biden’s apparent decline while in office and lingering questionsabout when Harris might have been aware of the issue.
“The now undisputed Biden decline, his reckless decision to seek reelection, and what she knew and when she knew it, will be a dark cloud on another Harris candidacy,” said Jay Surdukowski, a Democratic operative in the early primary state of New Hampshire….
One former senior Harris staffer put it even more bluntly:“I don’t think she can win the Democratic primary, so therefore, if I was advising her, I would say, ‘Don’t run in 2028.’” From the party’s perspective, the former staffer said, “I think there are better nominees out there who allow us to turn the page.”
The End
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/02/some-dems-want-kamala-harris-to-sit-midterms-out-00490186