A San Francisco Chronicle article mentioned Vice President Kamala Harris as a potential gubernatorial candidate, along with Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis already having declared her candidacy for the 2026 California governor’s race.
That seems unlikely.
Kamala Harris appears to be a go for a second term as vice president.
She appeared with President Joe Biden Tuesday in the video announcing his campaign for re-election. The (London) Telegraph called her 13 appearances in an “anointment” in a headline.
Kamala Harris and Biden Clash
Harris and Biden have clashed privately over her role as vice president.
Biden has griped about her not taking enough off of his plate and has called her a “work in progress.”
Does that mean she would ever consider bolting back to California?
Eye on California
Then-former Vice President Richard Nixon notably ran unsuccessfully in 1962 for the California governor’s mansion.
If Kamala Harris were to run, she would be the second person to have held the vice presidency to run for governor of California.
“I don’t think that Kamala Harris is here enough to make the inroads, but that would be, in my opinion, the person that [Kounalakis] would contest with,” Kounalakis ally and Bay Area attorney Joe Cotchett told the Chronicle. “There are a lot of other people around, and this mayor of LA is phenomenal. Watch her.”
Kounalakis hopes to become California’s first female governor. She aims to tackle issues like homelessness, income equality, soaring costs of living, and deaths related to fentanyl.
“We’re in a time where women’s rights are being attacked in ways that were inconceivable before Donald Trump won,” she told Politico. “I am the first woman elected lieutenant governor of California, and God willing, I will be the first woman elected governor.”
Her entry into the race is expected to jumpstart other California politicians to jump into the race.
Republicans don’t pose any threat in California politics; consequently, it comes down to who has the best chance to win in the Democratic race.
She has been acting governor at least a dozen times and became the first woman to sign a bill into law last year.
Reports show that she has $4.4 million in the bank for her campaign.
Lead-Up Experience
As lieutenant governor she vocally opposed the Trump administration’s bid for offshore drilling and has positioned herself as an opponent of climate change.
Before becoming lieutenant governor, she served as U.S. ambassador to Hungary in the Obama administration.
Cotchett speculates that Harris still could run for California’s top job.
Harris would have to keep the appearance that she is continuing in her role as vice president should she and Biden win a second term. The vice president has been mentioned as a possible candidate for president in 2028.
Anything less than the governor of California would be beneath her.
Harris would be unable to join the 2026 gubernatorial race until at least 2025 if she were so inclined.
“It is not only strategic for them, but it is essential for women who are running for statewide office to really get their campaigns moving and get them moving early,” EMILY’s List President Laphonza Butler said in an interview with Politico. “It is how they are able to elevate their campaigns and spark fundraising. And as the data notes, women have always had to prove more relative to fundraising and competitiveness.”
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John Rossomando’s work has been featured in numerous publications such as The American Thinker, Daily Wire, Red Alert Politics, CNSNews.com, The Daily Caller, Human Events, Newsmax, The American Spectator, TownHall.com, and Crisis Magazine. He also served as senior managing editor of The Bulletin, a 100,000-circulation daily newspaper in Philadelphia, and received the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors first-place award in 2008 for his reporting.
