Before becoming presidential hopeful, Harris must get past Gavin Newsom | Opinion
Kamala Harris is known as a historic Vice President of the United States, the first woman, first Black woman and first south Asian woman to hold the office. But setting aside former President Joe Biden selecting Harris to be his running mate, when she was on her own, Harris was a failed presidential candidate in the 2020 Democratic primary whose campaign ran out of money and who dropped out of the running before the calendar even got to 2020.
Outside of California, where Harris, a career prosecutor, was elected Attorney General and to the U.S. Senate, she was strictly a middle of pack candidate who couldn’t distinguish herself in the 2020 Democratic field. That hasn’t changed as Harris travels around in support of the memoir of her failed 2024 presidential race against the eventual winner, President Donald Trump.
For all her accolades and achievements, there is still not a clear answer to the question of what distinguishes Harris besides being smart and ambitious? What beliefs does she stand for beside those that seem poll-tested or meticulously crafted by teams of consultants? What, for example, could she offer to all the Black men who voted for Trump except compelling former President Barack Obama to arrogantly lecture Black men that they should support her as Obama did last year? How can Harris be persuasive to voters when she rarely ventures beyond tightly scripted, controlled events?
Ironically, the one Democrat who is rising above the pack to challenge Trump right now is Harris’ old frenemy, Gov. Gavin Newsom. So Harris will not only have to establish who she is to voters if she runs again for president in 2028, but she will have to distinguish herself from Newsom. It has to be galling that the guy Harris trolled in her book for not calling her back when it was clear she was running for president, is scoring points against Trump was Harris goes around introducing herself again.
That challenge was on display in a recent BBC interview promoting her book 107 Days, where Harris didn’t rule out a second run for president, but offered little of how she might differentiate herself from Newsom or her past campaign.
“I am not done,” the former vice president said. “I have lived my entire career in service, and it’s in my bones.”
Yet, in nearly a year since losing every swing state she needed in a decisive electoral loss to Trump, Harris is still playing it safe and still failing to convince Americans she offers something different from what the GOP is selling. Harris doesn’t have much more to say beyond her failed strategy of attacking Trump.
“(Trump) said he would weaponize the Department of Justice - and he has done exactly that,” Harris said of Trump to BBC. “You look at what has happened in terms of how he has weaponized, for example, federal agencies going around after political satirists… His skin is so thin he couldn’t endure criticism from a joke, and attempted to shut down an entire media organization in the process.”
Are all these things true? Yes, absolutely. But she still hasn’t learned from her fatal mistake of the 2024 election, where she stubbornly refused to criticize Biden or say how she would be different from him.
Harris lost huge swaths of Latino, Black and Asian voters to Trump. Harris won college-educated voters overall, but her margin of victory was much smaller than Biden’s or Obama’s. Trump routed Harris among rural voters and easily beat her among religious voters. Harris lost a lot of men that had supported Biden.
What does Harris have to offer to these diverse groups of people who chose Trump over her? We don’t know because she’s too busy bashing Trump.
Harris’ rivalry with Newsom is her only shot
Harris’ road to the 2028 election begins in California, where she’s never had to run against Newsom before. When she was District Attorney of San Francisco, he was mayor. When Newsom was Lt. Governor of California, Harris was AG. When she was in the U.S. Senate and VP, he was governor.
Harris and Newsom were both groomed by the same Bay Area elites who have run the politics of California for a generation, but only one candidate from the Golden State can come out on top and hope to become the first president from California since Ronald Reagan.
While Newsom appeals to the party’s progressive base with broad calls to defend democracy, Harris could carve her niche by speaking directly to economic anxieties and everyday concerns, showing voters she’s not just another voice in the California political chorus.
By contrasting herself with Newsom, Harris can show that she has learned from her mistake of listening to the elitist few and is now connected to the millions of hard-working Americans across the country.
Newsom has adopted this “democracy warrior” gimmick. This “everybody but Trump” appeal resonates with only a small group of Americans. The 2024 election is clear proof: not enough Americans bought into the Democrats’ fearmongering about Trump.
Newsom is feeding the Trump haters, and right now their bellies are full, but there will come a time when that is not enough. A plan of action is needed to show Americans that there is a path forward that puts middle- and lower-class Americans first.
If Harris wants a real chance at the presidency, she must do more than echo familiar Democratic talking points. She needs to draw a sharp, unmistakable line between herself and Newsom. Only then will voters see her as a genuine alternative, not just another face in a crowded field.
