WassUp Ms.Kamala Harris - No California Governor? 2028 presidential race? No, just backing Democrats in 2026 mid terms - Road Trip on lauching memoirs of the 2024 presidential bid 107 days.
Kamala Harris Today: The Reluctant Torchbearer of a Fractured Democratic Party
By TN Ashok | August 1, 2025
Kamala Harris, once a heartbeat away from the US presidency and now a private citizen, stands at an unusual crossroads in American politics—respected but not revered, experienced but not necessarily embraced. (photo source:gazettengr.com)
The Book: 107 Days
Slated for release this September, 107 Days promises a behind-the-scenes chronicle of a campaign marred by internal rifts, external pressures, and a late exit by President Joe Biden. Harris does not explicitly lay blame, but early excerpts suggest she wrestled with deep tensions between loyalty and leadership. In a revealing interview on The Late Show, she said there were “things I would’ve done differently in 2024,” but declined to elaborate.(photo source: newsrnd.com) (voz.us)
One of the book’s themes, as teased, is Harris’s resistance to publicly challenging Biden as his candidacy unraveled. “I refused to pile on Joe Biden,” she told Stephen Colbert. “He was the President of the United States. I gave him my loyalty, even if it cost me.” That loyalty, however, may have cost her political future. (photo soure: pptouhe.com.co)
Avoiding the California Governor’s Race
Kamala Harris has opted out of the 2026 California governor’s race, choosing instead to focus on supporting Democrats in the midterms. She’ll hit the road this fall for her upcoming book 107 Days, giving her a chance to reconnect directly with voters. There had been speculation that Harris might seek to reestablish her political base in California by entering the 2026 gubernatorial race. Her announcement to the contrary caught many off guard. “I believe the next chapter for California should be written by new voices,” she said in a statement. Privately, insiders speculate she didn’t want to be seen as "retreating" home or risking a bruising primary in a state crowded with rising stars like Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis and Attorney General Rob Bonta. (photo source: lemond.fr)
Her decision also fueled speculation that she is keeping her powder dry for a potential 2028 presidential run—a possibility she declines to confirm or deny.
Democratic Party Leader? She Won’t Say
Perhaps the most telling moment during her Colbert appearance came when the host pressed her on a deceptively simple question: “Who’s leading the Democratic Party?”
“There are lots of leaders,” Harris replied vaguely. “I’m not going to go through names because then I’m going to leave somebody out and then I’m going to hear about it.”
The evasiveness was strategic. In a party where factionalism now reigns—between progressives, centrists, institutionalists, and Gen Z insurgents—Harris is unwilling to crown any one figure. She deflected further: “It’s really on all of our shoulders.”
But observers noted what she didn’t say. She didn’t name Biden. She didn’t name Hakeem Jeffries. She didn’t name Gavin Newsom, Pete Buttigieg, or even herself.
2026 Midterms: A Warning Shot
President did not hold back in her assessment of Donald Trump’s second act in office. “I was stunned,” she told Colbert, “by the amount of capitulation I’ve seen. People who should’ve been guardians of democracy just folded.”bout the 2026 midterms. “If we don’t learn from 2024, we risk losing more than just Congress,” she reportedly said at a private fundraiser in Manhattan. “We risk losing moral clarity.”(photo : source: mundonow.com)
Publicly, she’s more restrained, warning that voter engagement is “fragile” and that Democratic candidates must connect on “kitchen table” issues: economic security, reproductive rights, and healthcare access. “We can’t let the chaos of Trumpism distract us from people’s lived realities,” she noted.
Yet she offers no clear path forward. When asked by a reporter last week whether Democrats had a cohesive strategy for retaking the House and holding the Senate, she demurred: “It’s too soon to tell.”
Trump’s Shadow
The former VicePresident did not hold back in her assessment of Donald Trump’s second act in office. “I was stunned,” she told Colbert, “by the amount of capitulation I’ve seen. People who should’ve been guardians of democracy just folded.”
Though she didn’t name names, her tone implied frustration with both Republican enablers and institutional media figures. There are unconfirmed reports that Harris clashed with CBS executives over their editing of her controversial “60 Minutes” interview last year—an incident that became the subject of Trump’s high-profile (and ultimately settled) lawsuit against Paramount. (photos: newsrnd.com)
Asked directly if she believes Trump poses a greater threat now than he did in 2020, she said only: “The conditions are more fertile today for authoritarianism than at any point in my lifetime.”
2028: In or Out?
As names are floated for the 2028 presidential race—California Governor Gavin Newsom, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and Kentucky’s Andy Beshear—Harris remains conspicuously tight-lipped about her own ambitions.
The former VicePresident is on everybody’s shortlist,” says a senior Democratic strategist, “but nobody knows if she wants to be.” Publicly, Harris simply declines to comment on whether she’ll run. When asked by Colbert, she smiled and said, “Right now, I’m focused on telling the truth about 2024.” (photo; source; imagecollect.com)
Others are less circumspect. Charlamagne Tha God, on his Brilliant Idiots podcast, said: “Harris has the brand but not the base. She might be better off dropping a podcast or another book.”
Former news anchor Katie Couric recently commented: “The voice of temptation is very loud in politics. But the voice of reality is louder. Kamala has to decide which she’s listening to.”
The Reluctant Symbol
Today, Harris is a paradox: a trailblazing figure who seems hesitant to lead, a former VP who talks more like an analyst than an advocate. She appeals to institutional Democrats nostalgic for the Obama-Biden era but has yet to win over younger or more activist wings of the party.
“She’s playing the long game,” says James Carville, the veteran Democratic strategist. “But the game is changing fast. You either adapt or get benched.”( photos: rawstory.com)
Indeed, as the Democratic Party faces an identity crisis amid an aggressive Republican resurgence and internal fractures, Harris’s role remains undefined—by her choice and perhaps by the party’s own indecision.
In her own words: “The future of this party isn’t about any one person. It’s about whether we still believe in collective responsibility, in truth, and in justice.”
Whether that vision includes another Kamala Harris campaign—or her stepping back for good—remains to be seen.
TN Ashok is a senior journalist and political commentator based in New Delhi, with a special focus on U.S. politics and global economic affairs.
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