Harris Stays Quiet on a Possible 2028 Comeback

BY TARINI PARTI AND EMILY GLAZER

PHILADELPHIA— Democrats are ready to move on from 2024. But Kamala Harris isn’t done talking about it—as much as some in her party want her to be.

Her account of the campaign in her new book, “107 Days,” is a more unvarnished look from the typically cautious former vice president than even those close to her were expecting. The candor hasn’t just reopened wounds for a divided party still struggling to chart a path forward. It has also left Democrats trying to discern Harris’s intent: Is the book the start of an unconventional political comeback, or a no-holds-barred exit from politics?

In an interview, Harris insisted it was neither. “This is a book tour. That’s what it is,” she responded.

Minutes earlier, the former vice president had been standing in front of a packed opera house in the city where she ended her campaign. Repeatedly audience members and the moderator encouraged her to run for the White House again, as the crowd cheered.

Harris has declined to rule out another presidential bid. Asked if she had a timeline for making a decision on her political future, Harris said, “You’re assuming I’m thinking about it,” and wouldn’t elaborate.

Harris said she still views herself as a leader within the party. “I was the Democratic nominee for president,” she said. “I came close to winning. Of course I do.”

But some longtime backers privately say they are ready to move on. An increasingly vocal group of Democrats from across the party have aired their frustrations with Harris’s re-emergence and her book, in which she speaks bruisingly about former President Joe Biden and her choices for a running mate. She characterizes Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as overly ambitious and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who is gay, as a politically risky pick alongside a Black woman.

Faiz Shakir, who ran Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign, said Harris’s book and tour are a reminder of the concerns people had about her. “Her campaign struggled with being a campaign of conviction, of clarity, of deep, principled positions,” Shakir said. “It’s a sign of weak leadership to just start blaming these kind of outside actors for your own shortcomings,” he said. “It hurts the Democratic Party.”

In the interview—which took place after her book event—Harris acknowledged the frankness of her book, but said she believes the critics who have focused on a few excerpts have missed her point. “It’s not a tell-all,” she said. “It’s about just presenting people with a journal of my experience running for presi--dent of the United States.”

Democrats, including some who have previously supported Harris, say the former vice president’s instinct to straddle moderate and progressive policy positions instead of strongly articulating one side—even on the book tour—has made them uneasy about a potential comeback.

Harris was asked in an MSNBC interview with Rachel Maddow about Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor whose democratic socialist candidacy has divided the party. “I support the Democrat in the race, sure,” Harris said, without saying his name. Her response angered both progressives and centrists in the party. Harris later said she spoke to Mamdani on the phone and complimented him on bringing people together.

In the Journal interview, Harris was definitive. “No, I did endorse Mamdani,” she said. Despite the growing divisions within the two wings of her party, Harris said, “there is a lot of consensus around the priorities of this moment, and that’s where I’m focused.”

Over the summer, Harris passed on a run for California governor because she wasn’t ready to make a decision yet on a 2028 bid, and a gubernatorial run would have meant passing on another presidential campaign, according to people familiar with her thinking.

The biggest liability for Harris on the national stage remains her former boss and his ability to perform his presidential duties, Democrats say. Already, potential 2028 Democratic contenders have raised the topic.

In her book, she acknowledges that Biden “got tired,” but added, “I don’t believe it was incapacity. If I believed that, I would have said so. As loyal as I am to President Biden, I am more loyal to my country.” She is sharply critical of Biden’s team.

A spokeswoman for Biden declined to comment.

Matt Bennett, co-founder of the center-left think tank Third Way, said that Harris’s “willingness to be clear about what happened” is an important piece of the reckoning for the party. Bennett added: “I think what she has recognized is authenticity has become the coin of the realm in politics.”