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Advisers and allies are privately deliberating Vice President Harris’s next steps as she prepares to leave office Monday facing an uncertain future after an unprecedented year.
Harris, who became the Democratic presidential candidate overnight last July after President Biden suddenly dropped out of the race, could use the next four years to set up a new run for the White House in 2028, when President-elect Trump will be ineligible to run for reelection.
She could also consider a gubernatorial bid in her home state of California, or make her exit from public service altogether.
“There is a debate amongst her advisers right now about whether she should pursue any offices and if so, which ones?” said one Harris ally who has spoken to the vice president in recent weeks.
Harris is keeping her options open, three sources close to the vice president say, but is giving considerable thought to continuing in public service, something she has done for more than two decades.
“Why wouldn’t she run again?” a second longtime ally said.
It is a question many of her advisers have repeated in recent weeks, including at a recent black-tie affair held at the Naval Observatory for Harris’s closest advisers and friends last month.
At the December soiree, Harris’s key allies bandied about her options informally. “No one thinks this is it for her in terms of public office,” the ally said. “This is just who she is.”
Since conceding to Trump in November, Harris has kept a low public profile, turning away interviews and putting a cap on her time as vice president.
Harris, sources close to her say, is also still methodically piecing together what happened in the presidential election. In the coming weeks, upon leaving office, she is expected to have “a real think” — as one source put it — about her path forward.
“This will be the first time in a long time that she’s had a moment to think about next steps,” a third Harris ally said, pointing to her grueling schedule as vice president and running mate to Biden and then her own candidacy following Biden’s decision to leave the race. “She has had very little time to process the past few months and think about whether she even wants to try it again.”
NBC News reported Wednesday that Harris has decided to write a book in the immediate months following her departure.
“Kamala Harris is poised to land the biggest book deal of any vice president in history,” Keith Urbahn, a literary agent, told the news outlet. “But the real question isn’t the advance — it’s whether the book can redefine her for 2028.”
At the same time, second gentleman Doug Emhoff is making moves to return to the private sector and having conversations about potentially landing in New York, one source familiar with the matter said.
When it comes to Harris, Jamal Simmons, who served as Harris’s communications director until 2023, said Harris has several months to decide her next steps.
“She shouldn’t do anything until the spring,” Simmons said. “She’s been on the fastest, most intense treadmill and she should catch her breath and enjoy her friends and family, think about the time she served the public and then begin to have conversations about what to do next.
“The worst thing to do is to jump into a long-term commitment unless you absolutely have to,” he said.
The third ally to Harris also cautioned that if Harris wants to run for president, she shouldn’t run for governor given the potential stakes.
“Imagine she runs for governor and loses,” the aide said. “It would be game over.”
At the same time, one major Democratic donor said Harris should consider the gubernatorial race over another presidential election. This source suggested the extent of Harris’s loss to Trump — she lost all seven swing states in the race — undermines confidence among Democrats in a potential 2028 candidacy.
“Listen, there’s no way she makes it through a primary, and that’s the reality,” the donor said.
If Harris does decide to run for president in 2028, she could be up against California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who shares many of the same advisers and donors as Harris.
Newsom, who has come under scrutiny recently as the wildfires in his state continue to rage, has long been seen as a top contender for the Democratic nomination. But Harris’s allies say that shouldn’t discourage her from running.
“Everybody who wants to run for president should run for president,” the third Harris ally said. “This isn’t the time for backroom deals and negotiation. It’s about who the best messenger is for the Democratic Party.”
“It’s like the lottery, you’ve got to play if you want to win,” the ally said.
There are likely to be many more names in a 2028 race beyond Harris and Newsom. A short list includes the likes of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
Either way, those who know Harris well say the transition from vice president to private life could be a challenging one for her, given her multiple back-to-back public service roles, from California district attorney to the state’s attorney general to the Senate before taking on the role of Biden’s partner.
“She has been an elected official for most of her adult life so the prospect of being out of office must be unsettling to her,” the third ally said.
