How to get up after an election defeat? Kamala Harris is still looking for an idea
The former vice president does not give up, considering running for the position of Governor of California or re -start in the elections to the White House in 2028. However, party members on the opposite US coasts, who gathered at simultaneous conventions this weekend, They did not express too much enthusiasm for any of the Harris candidacy options.
Some democrats in South Carolina even went to suggest that the start in the election at the Governor of California can ensure a graceful descent from the national political scene.
“I think she should apply for the governor's position and be the best governor that California has ever had,” says Amanda Loveday, a democrat strategist and former executive director of the Democratic Party of South Carolina.
– really We haven't heard of her about California since the inauguration of Trump – admits Madison Zimmerman, a delegate of the State Party from Shast's rural unit. – I think California is not a consolation reward.
“I would feel like I'm wasting my voice”
Anaheim and Columbia are almost 2,500 miles away from each other [ok. 4000 km]but both meetings may be of great importance for the future of Harris – California as a state that he can try to rule, and South Karolina as a state in which At the beginning of the presidential campaign in 2028, key primaries will take place.
Harris, one of the most recognizable figures of the Democratic Party in the country, after last year's presidential election is still significant. He leads in surveys at the Governor of California and is at the top or near the top of the list of pretenders in the latest research on the primaries in 2028. Even if after a painful loss with President Donald Trump he does not lean, it attracts attention with his sporadic speeches and performances at events such as Met Gala.
This star power significantly exceeds declared candidates for the Governor of California. If Harris decided to start She would immediately advance to the status of the favoritetaking into account its position and the ability to raise funds.
– The recognition of the surname, the fact that she has already won in California many times … Another starters will be difficult to duplicate this story – notes Roger Salazar, a strategist of the Democrats, which is not associated with any governorate campaign. – It really depends on what she wants to do. Does she want to become a governor?
This question immediately came to mind Carol Weiss, a delegate from Sunnyvale, during the assessment of potential candidates for the governor at the convention of the Democratic Party of California.
– My fears about Harris are that if she won, She would use this position as a storage room until the second start in the presidential election She said. “And that would make me feel like I'm wasting my voice.” I want a strong governor for at least four years.
Harris, who stayed in Australia last week, where she spoke at a conference on real estate, did not appear at the convention. She sent a short video speech, which was greeted with a warm but not very long applause of the audience. Her spokesperson did not answer the request for comment.
“Other Democrats in the state of California should leave her path”
Harris's shadow, however, floated above the Congress Center in Anaheim, when the candidates for the governor went to various meetings and squeezed their hands about 4,000 most devoted activists and employees of the party. Most participants admit that The shape of the governor's race will remain indefinite until Harris makes decisions.
The main donors remained out of the way, most trade unions and interest groups abstain with support. Some candidates quietly develop alternative plans to apply for other offices if Harris decides to run. Among this uncertainty, democrats are clearly excited whether Harris declares their intentions in one way or another.
– You see other candidates: they are here, they say, do their job. And I think people are open to it because they realize that you really need someone who may appear and is really interested – says David Campos, vice -chairman of the State party and former chairman of the San Francisco Democratic Party.
Kamala Harris during the commission's work in the American Senate. Washington, June 13, 2017
Campos, who knows Harris for years from the difficult political scene of San Francisco, predicts that Harris will be a “powerful” pretender. However, he says that party loyalists are not yet dreaming of “coronation” of any of the candidates. “People want to have a campaign, elections,” he explains.
Lorena Gonzalez, who heads the powerful California Labor Federation, also did not hear Harris to clean the field. She noticed a noticeable change among the approach of other candidates, the longer the vice president declares his intentions. (Harris set a deadline until late to make a decision).
– There is some frustration in both candidates and activists: What will happen? Does Kamala join? Should I choose a favored candidate? Who will stay if Kamala joins and who is not? – says Gonzalez. – And I think it is changing. More candidates are considering staying in the race, and the longer it takes, the more candidates will ultimately remain in the race.
In Anaheim you could still find devoted supporters of Harris, such as Ingrid Hutt, entrepreneur and sister of councilor Los Angeles, Heather Hutt. She declares that she is fully ready to act to support the former vice president.
Hutt says that she would like Harris, as a candidate for a governor, “to be happy to be in the presidential race. [Jestem gotowa]to come home and lead our condition. ” “Other Democrats in California should leave her path.”
Others, despite the sympathy for the former vice president, do not seem delighted with her perspective accelerated path to the governor's residence. “I really hesitate,” admits Minola Clark Manson, a delegate from San Diego. “I would probably vote for Kamala Harris, but I would feel some discomfort.”
“I just want her to rest”
Meetings in Anaheim and Columbia had at least one common feature: performances by Minnesota Governor Tim Walza, a compatriot of Harris from last year, who is widely perceived as a potential presidential candidate in 2028 during the Saturday Walz marathon in both states he spoke warmly about his campaign with Harris, praising her as “talented”.
Tim Walz and Kamala Harris during the election rally. Ann Arbor, October 28, 2024
However, in South Carolina, apart from the fleeting mention Democrats did not start the theme of Kamali Harris by themselves.
– Does she want it? – Wayne Borders, a progressive activist, answers sharply in response to the question about her perspective at 2028. A serious candidate, as she says, “she would come to tell me why” is trying for this job.
Skardon himself, former chairman of the Charleston Democratic Party, says that He doesn't think that voters from his party have a bad defeat for her last year: – I think people understand that it was not her full and honest chance for the White House and if she wanted to apply for another one, I don't think we would be angry with her for it.
Skardon adds, however, that everyone who worked in Biden administration, may have a problem through the tarnished heritage of the former president: – I do not think that anyone expected that the party will clean the field for her in 2028. I do not think that there was any thought that it has the right to nomination above anyone else.
Still, some democrats declare that If Harris starts, they would welcome her with joy. Michelle Brandt, a former vice -chairman of the Democratic Party of South Carolina, says that Harris candidacy for president would be “exciting”. He adds, however, that she cares more about Harris to regroup after the last campaign.
“I'm sure it was extremely stressful,” Brandt confesses. – So I only think about her well -being, not that she can't do it. I just want her to rest.
