Kamala Harris eyes possible 2028 comeback, but some former allies look to ‘fresh’ faces

Former Vice President Kamala Harris has said she is “considering” running for president in 2028, but some former supporters are not enthusiastic — despite her national name recognition and experience as second-in-command.

ABC News spoke with more than 15 former donors, fundraisers, Biden campaign aides, White House staff and current advisers about Harris running again, some of whom requested anonymity so they could speak freely.

A source familiar with Harris’ thinking told ABC News that she is considering all options, but has not begun to explicitly deliberate with her team.

Like Harris, California Gov. Gavin Newsom got his start in San Francisco politics. He is also seen as one of the top 2028 presidential candidates and may win some supporters, although he has not officially committed to doing so.

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, a top California influencer, told ABC News that while it’s too early to speculate, he believes Newsom is the more “viable” of the two interns, “because he’s not going to be the last loser.”

“When you embrace someone for this position, you really want to embrace a winner, and Newsom would be what you have to say right now is a winner,” Brown said.

Brown said he was “surprised” that Harris decided not to run for governor of California in 2026.

“I would advise her to be elected governor, so that she would be in a similar position, if not better than Newsom in terms of national electability…. If she were in the California governor’s class on January 8, 2027, the conversation would be about her nomination, not about anyone else’s nomination,” Brown said.

An influential California donor and early Harris supporter told ABC News: “I haven’t heard a single person suggest that it would be good for anything if she ran. … We’re looking for someone who is fresh and not imposed on voters. We understand that we were stuck in the situation last time, but that’s not the case going forward.”

“If it were Kamala and Newsom, the money would be split, and I think Newsom might not have any advantage in that because he’s currently the governor,” said Asif Mahmood, an aggregator who has supported Harris for more than 15 years.

“It’s not that I can say with certainty that I will support it the way I did before, depending on the field,” Mahmoud added.

A source close to Harris said that if she ran, she would realize that donors and activists might join other campaigns.

Sour feelings among some donors

Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign burned through more than $1 billion in 15 weeks — which some fundraisers said discourages them from giving large sums to future campaigns.

“I think voters are going to be very hungry for a fresh, fresh, young voice with a different perspective, who can effectively shape an agenda for the future. … I don’t think Kamala is the right person for this moment by any stretch of the imagination,” said one fundraiser raising money for Harris’ 2024 race.

“I haven’t really heard anyone say they want her to run. In fact, it’s the opposite,” one longtime Democratic donor who raised money for Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign told ABC News.

“I really think whoever became the nominee after Biden dropped out would have raised a lot of money. … I don’t know a lot of at least major donors who said, ‘I feel really comfortable about putting this money to her.'” The donor added: “She was just at the top of the ticket.

“For someone who wants to have a future political career, she has done nothing…to maintain any relationships with anyone that I know…and those were her major donors. It’s been two years now, and I don’t know that anyone has gotten a thank you note,” said a 2020 Harris campaign fundraiser who participated in her 2024 campaign.

But two fundraisers ABC News spoke to felt differently.

“The average Democratic voter who gives $10, $20, now loves Kamala Harris, so she will have the ability to raise a lot of grassroots money, and she is the mother of local politics,” said Tom Nides, a former Biden administration official who fundraised for Harris in 2024 when she became the nominee. “Big dollar money is becoming less important, and they will join it if they think it will win.”

In response to a request for comment about the apparently unenthusiastic sentiment among some donors, a spokesperson for Harris said in a statement: “The Vice President is grateful to the supporters who have stood with her. Right now, as Americans search for leadership in the fight against the rollback of their fundamental rights and freedoms — including the Supreme Court’s devastating repeal of the Voting Rights Act — she is focused on electing Democrats up and down the midterm ballot and building state parties for the crucial battles ahead.”

“Biden fatigue”

For some, Harris’s association with former President Joe Biden — who only dropped out of the race after facing mounting pressure from Democrats — will be scrutinized.

“There is a kind of fatigue with Biden,” said a former senior Harris campaign adviser who worked on Harris’ 2024 campaign.

“She was obviously the vice president, which is a benefit,” the former adviser said. “But it also hurts in other ways, especially when your president was very unpopular when he left office. I think donors, just voters, have an appetite for fighters, but they want some fresh faces.”

One of Harris’s 2020 class of 2020 graduates said her opponents would exploit her for not asking Biden to withdraw earlier in a potential 2028 debate.

However, Ashley Etienne, the vice president’s former communications director, said Harris had distanced herself enough with her book “107 Days,” which details her frustration with Biden.

“I think in 2028, if things continue as they are now, and there is the problem of affordability, costs, unemployment, lack of democratic principles, I think the Biden issue will no longer be an issue,” said a former senior campaign adviser who remains close to Harris.

Another source close to Harris said enough time has passed, and she can address her engagement with Biden with self-reflection on topics she couldn’t address as vice president.

Decision not to run for governor

Harris’s decision not to run for governor of California this year was disappointing to some, but strategic to others.

“If Harris had entered the race, she would have cleared the field and saved Democrats from much of the pain and uncertainty that has developed in these primaries,” Mahmoud said.

Etienne said if she jumped into the gubernatorial race, it would be a “losing proposition.”

“For someone who wanted to be president, or someone who was already vice president, I didn’t see that as a really good, sound move. … I don’t think she gained anything by doing that,” Etienne said.

One longtime Harris supporter said he was “surprised” by Harris’ decision not to run for governor, because it would have been an “important” role for her, but said at the time she was making the decision, her campaign would have been exposed to questions about her defense of Biden and why she did not pressure him to withdraw sooner.

A former senior campaign adviser who remains close to Harris said there was a sense that Harris had to make a decision about running for governor too quickly after the presidential campaign.

How might Harris approach her 2028 resolution?

A source close to Harris said that if she ran in 2028, she would have greater fame, favor among Democrats, the freedom to express her vision without the constraints of the vice presidency and more time.

The source added that Harris is focusing on the midterms — helping raise money for candidates and state parties — and voicing her opposition to Republican-led redistricting efforts in the South.

In August, Harris will deliver a keynote address to Louisiana Democrats at the party’s annual fundraiser, where she will outline what she believes Democrats should do to counter the Louisiana v. Calais decision that invalidated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The former vice president also made calls to federal and state lawmakers affected by the decision, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus. During the spring, she organized fundraising events for Democratic state parties in North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, Georgia and Nevada.

Her decision may depend on whether she thinks a presidential campaign or starting a foundation would be a better way to advance her vision for America, according to the insider.

“I think anyone who has valuable ideas about how to move our country forward … should run for president, especially if they have extensive experience that they can bring to the table, which is certainly a good fit for this project,” said Adrienne Elrod, who served as Harris’ senior adviser and spokeswoman in 2024.

Etienne said she believes Harris should run and said she can distinguish herself from the field because she is not currently serving in office for the first time in her political career.

“People think she’s great, but there was some obvious baggage that she had, so how do you in this short period of time process that, unpack it, and then come out with this combination of feeling fresh and new, and yet seasoned enough to get the nation through where Trump is taking us,” Etienne said.

“It’s really hard to run for president, and I think people who haven’t done it underestimate the difficulty and the scrutiny and all the things that come with it at that level, and so the best way to prepare to run is to have already run,” said a former senior campaign adviser who remains close to Harris.