Harris has taken steps that would enable a third presidential run, and some donors have directly told her another bid would be a long shot
By Jessica Toonkel, Emily Glazer and Ken Thomas
As former Vice President Kamala Harris lays the groundwork for a potential third presidential campaign, her husband has privately told some people he would prefer she didn't run and some donors have told her directly that a bid would be a long shot, according to people familiar with the conversations.
Harris has said she is undecided on whether to launch another run for the White House, but she has taken steps that could be a precursor to such a bid, including speaking with major donors, hiring staff and traveling to battleground states to boost Democratic candidates in the November midterm elections.
Publicly, she has said that she remains focused on the midterms, in which Democrats hope to win control of the House and Senate and pick up several gubernatorial seats. "I have not decided if I'm going to run again," Harris said at a NAACP event in Michigan last month as the audience gave her a lengthy standing ovation. "I do sincerely believe '28 won't matter if we don't get through '26."
Some people who have known and worked with Harris are skeptical she will ultimately mount another run.
A spokesman for Harris declined to comment.
A potential Harris candidacy is controversial within the Democratic Party. She was the Democrats' nominee in 2024, securing the nomination without an open primary after then-President Joe Biden abruptly pulled out of the race. President Trump subsequently won the Electoral College and the popular vote, setting off months of finger-pointing and soul-searching among Democrats.
Many Democrats, including some who remain close to her, think the party needs to put forward a fresh candidate in the 2028 election. Unlike in 2024, when the party coalesced around Harris in the aftermath of Biden's exit, she is expected to face a crowded field if she were to run again.
Harris's husband, Doug Emhoff, is among those who have shared concerns with others about another run, though people close to him expect he will support her if she decides to run.
In "107 Days," her memoir of the 2024 campaign, Harris describes her husband as protective and supportive, noting that when she was chosen to be Biden's running mate in 2020, "he made a huge sacrifice, gladly and without bitterness." She wrote, "he knew it was essential that there be no appearance of conflicts of interest in our new roles. So that was his last day at his law firm."
She writes that in October 2024, she realized that "the attacks on me, and the many personal assaults he'd been experiencing were finally taking a toll." She describes an argument they had and Emhoff telling her, "We can't turn on each other," he said. She wrote, "With the hits coming from every direction, we had to stay united."
Since leaving Washington, Emhoff has returned to work as an attorney in Los Angeles at white shoe law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. He and Harris purchased a new $8-million home in Malibu with views of the Pacific Ocean. Harris has taken some business meetings at their new home.
Some of Harris's recent moves have made some donors uneasy about her intentions, some of the people said. In the weeks leading up to the midterms, Harris has appeared at a half-dozen private fundraisers in California including an event in Santa Monica for Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the party's nominee for governor of Wisconsin, and another for Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, the Democratic nominee for governor of Nevada.
She also joined a get-out-the-vote call with the Democratic National Committee this past week, urging more than 2,000 volunteers listening live to knock on doors and engage with voters to flip seats in a dozen states across the country.
"Hard work is good work," Harris said.
Harris is expected to campaign ahead of the November elections in Nevada for Ford and in Georgia for Sen. Jon Ossoff's re-election bid and will be the keynote speaker at the Fulton County Democratic Party's annual fundraiser in Atlanta.
Harris has been working closely with a team of political advisers, including chief of staff Candace Bond, a former Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago during the Biden administration; and Eduardo Negrón, who recently joined her team as her communications director. For the past year, Harris has been a client of Brian Fallon, a Democratic strategist who worked on her 2024 presidential campaign.
She is one of several high profile Democrats who are weighing a White House bid and laying the groundwork for a campaign if they decide to move forward. The expected large field of Democratic hopefuls could soon begin formally announcing their bids after the midterms. Harris leads the hypothetical Democratic field in most 2028 national primary polls.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is also considering a run for president, said in an interview in September with CNN that he wouldn't run if Harris got into the race, saying two Californians fighting each other in the primary would be a "gift from God for everybody else" with "no upside whatsoever."
Harris retains support among key Democratic constituencies, particularly Black women. In Michigan, Harris campaigned to help turn out Black voters for Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a demographic group he struggled with during the Democratic primary and needs to turn out in a general election. While there, she attended a roundtable discussion about infant and maternal mortality among Black Americans and spoke at an event for the NAACP.
"She is going where she is needed and she is willing to do what it takes to help Democratic candidates on the ballot this year," said Donna Brazile, a longtime Democratic strategist who remains in touch with Harris.