In a move sure to spark more 2028 speculation, former Vice President Kamala Harris will appear next week at a major Democratic Party cattle call in this preseason for the next White House race.
Harris will speak on Friday in New York City at the National Action Network’s 35th Anniversary Convention.
The gathering, hosted by the civil rights organization’s founder, the Rev. Al Sharpton, will give the former vice president and other potential Democratic presidential contenders appearing at the confab an opportunity to speak directly to an influential gathering of Black leaders and activists who are key players among the party’s base.
It’s the latest sign that where Harris is going, and what she’s saying and doing, is increasingly generating buzz that the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee is on a likely glidepath towards another White House bid in 2028.
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“Of course we are reading tea leaves,” a veteran strategist in the former vice president’s political orbit told Fox News Digital.
The strategist, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, emphasized that “the only signal that is very clear is that she is going to continue to be an incredibly important fighting force and voice for Democrats and for the country.”
Harris was mostly out of the headlines for a couple of months after the end of former President Joe Biden’s administration early last year. But she started stepping back into the political spotlight last spring and summer, including headlining Democratic National Committee fundraisers.
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Her strategic decision last summer to pass on launching a 2026 gubernatorial campaign in her home state of California was seen as a clearing of the runway for a 2028 presidential bid. And her nationwide book tour for her memoir on her abbreviated 2024 campaign, when she succeeded Biden as the Democrats’ standard-bearer, has helped keep her very visible while building up her email lists and boosting donor interest.
With her six-month book tour coming to a close, Harris, who made history as the first female and first Black vice president in the nation’s history, is set to make a swing through the South later this month. Her stops to help state parties fundraise include South Carolina, a key early-voting primary state in the Democrats’ presidential nominating calendar, as well as the key general election battlegrounds of Georgia and North Carolina. Harris narrowly lost both states and the five other key battlegrounds to President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
“Kamala Harris continues to be an incredibly inspiring force within the Democratic Party, especially among women, among Black voters and voters of color,” the strategist in her political circle emphasized.
Harris has also been getting more involved on the campaign trail, recording ads for the Democratic National Committee and for the Virginia Democrats with early voting underway in the state’s April 21 congressional redistricting referendum.
After endorsing Rep. Jasmine Crockett in last month’s Democratic Senate primary in Texas, Harris reached out to the nomination winner, state Rep. James Talarico. She’s also talked to other winners in last month’s primaries.
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Harris has also been increasingly critical of Trump’s military strikes on Iran.
“He brought America into a war that people don’t want, he has put American troops in harm’s way, costs are rising by the day, and, meanwhile, he has done nothing to address the needs of the people of America,” the former vice president argued in a social media video posted ahead of Trump’s primetime address to the nation last week.
Harris’ comments quickly ignited a sharp rebuke from conservatives on social media.
Among those responding was Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the House Republican majority leader.
“It’s pretty disgraceful for you to claim President Trump has done nothing to meet the needs of the American people,” Emmer posted on X. “Here’s the truth: He’s cleaning up the chaos YOU caused here in the United States and across the globe, and is making America great again.”
The reaction from Republicans is a sign that it’s not only Democrats who see Harris as a potential leading contender for the 2028 nomination.
Looking ahead, the strategist stressed that “no one knows what she is planning to do for 2028, but until she tells us herself, she is going to continue to travel, speak up about the issues she cares about the most, and the tremendous damage that Trump and this administration are doing to this country and how Democrats are going to continue to fight back.”
