Allies of former Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as Democratic surrogates, are questioning whether the former Democratic nominee would be the top choice within the party, weighing her name recognition and respect among Democrats against the notion that voters want to move on.
“People just want to move on,” Fletcher Smith, a former state legislator in South Carolina and Biden 2020 surrogate, told The Washington Post. “We’ve got a number of younger generation of people who are capable of leading — we’ve got governors, we’ve got congresspeople, we have senators. I think what she needs to do is sit out 2028 and let some other people have a shot at saving our democracy.”
Many Democratic allies noted Harris is well respected within the party, but questioned whether respect translated into support.
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“She’s extraordinarily popular in the party and people are very fond of her and want her to be treated with a lot of respect and deference — given all the due of someone in her position,” Jamal Simmons, a former communications director for Harris, told the Post. “Many people see it as a service what she did in 2024, where she really stepped up for the party, stepped up for Joe Biden, stepped up for the country. There’s a lot of respect for her. But it’s yet to be seen how much of that becomes support for another presidential run.”
Podcast host and former South Carolina state senator Bakari Sellers told the Post that though she is” very talented,” she has yet to define what a potential 2028 run would look like to key constituencies.
“One of the first statements she put out was about AI, when it’s clear she needs to boost her support among Black men,” Sellers told the Post. “California has a cost-of-living issue, and she’s not talking about cost of living at all.”
The Post reported that Sellers said he hasn’t spoken to Harris in over a year. He suggested that was concerning for a candidate who would need a victory in South Carolina, according to the report.
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During Sellers’ podcast on Monday, he listed Harris as No. 2 in his top five candidates for 2028. He said Harris was talented and intelligent, but questioned whether her team would “let her be great.”
“Let Kamala be Kamala, and you would have the next president of the United States without a doubt in my mind,” he said. The podcast host ranked Maryland Gov. Wes Moore in the No. 1 spot, calling him the “biggest impediment” to Harris being the nominee.
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Democratic strategist Kaivan Shroff, who was part of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, told Fox News Digital that Harris hasn’t done anything differently since 2024.
“Harris has not done anything truly new or different since 2024. Her greatest post-VP visibility came from her book tour. Running again without a new chapter or story to tell is like reapplying to the same college after getting rejected, taking a gap year, and coming back with basically the same application. You can rewrite the essay, but if you did nothing new, admissions is still looking at the same file,” Shroff said.
Shroff suggested somebody new might have the advantage over her because they would be introducing themselves to voters for the first time on a national stage.
“She does not get to reintroduce herself. That is the burden of being so well known. She has a real base and a lot of goodwill in the party, but she also lost, and that makes some voters and, importantly, donors nervous. Even if she starts high in the polls, the question is where the growth comes from if there is not much new to add,” he said. “Someone like a Pritzker at least gets the advantage of telling his story to a lot of voters for the first time.”
Shroff added, “What Harris is doing well right now is using her position as a party leader rather than acting like a candidate in waiting. A great example is her showing up for Abdul El-Sayed despite his criticism of her and the bad blood with some on the far left in Michigan. She acknowledged the disagreements, still made the case for him, and used her stature to help unite the party in a critical moment — particularly with outreach to Black voters. That is an example of influence she has right now, regardless of what she does in 2028 and that will continue to matter whether she seeks the nomination or not.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a recent interview that he would not run in 2028 if Harris planned to run.
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Harris has not been definitive on whether she plans to run, but has said she is thinking about it.
Others were more confident in Harris, including Ashley Etienne, another former communications director for the former VP. She told the Post that Harris would need to separate herself from the Democratic establishment, but said she would have major advantages in a national election.
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“It’s almost like, why not her? She has proven, unlike anyone else in the race, that she’s got these advantages that will matter in a national election,” she told the Post.
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Virginia Democratic state senator L. Louise Lucas told the Post that Democrats rejecting Harris too fast could be interpreted as a negative political move as well, suggesting it could be seen as overlooking a qualified Black woman for the position.
“There’s no question that people would be upset because you see what happened last time,” Lucas told the Post. “It could very well be that some folks would be so disillusioned that they would just say, ‘I give up on this process’ — especially people who’ve been fighting as many years as I have, who have come through the civil rights movement and just experienced so much, endured so much, and then to see this happen again would be quite painful.”
Several members of Congress didn’t rush to throw their support behind Harris when asked by Fox News Digital about her possibly running in 2028.
“Well, I’ve backed her before, but there’ll be other contenders this time,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital. “I’ve made no decisions about who I would support.”
“I think we’re going to have a very, very, very messy and very big primary,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said. “It’s going to be every Tom, Dick and Harry. And that’s probably where it should be.”
“We’re focused on 2026,” said Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md. “We’re going to win back the House and the Senate.”
She continued, “I love Kamala Harris. I have a very personal friendship and relationship. She’s amazing. I think anybody who wants to run should. She’s obviously very well qualified. We need to focus on ’26.”
