Kamala Harris Will Not Run for Governor of California (However…)

Kamala Harris floated the idea that she might run for governor of California back in early March. At the time she said she would set a deadline for her decision.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris is seriously considering a run for governor of California — and has given herself a deadline to decide.

At a pre-Oscars party last weekend, Harris was asked by another partygoer when she would make a decision about jumping into the California governor’s race. She gave a definitive answer, according to two people with knowledge of the conversation: the end of the summer.

It’s not quite the end of summer yet but today Harris announced that she will not be running for governor:

My statement on the California governor’s race and the fight ahead. pic.twitter.com/HYzK1BIlhD

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 30, 2025

So what is Harris going to do? In the short run, she’s going on a book tour.

Harris wanted to make the decision about running before an expected fall book tour was announced. That announcement is coming soon.

She’s already written the book so the tour is just a way to reintroduce herself and frame her 2024 loss as someone else’s fault. Will she dump on Joe Biden and the Politburo of aides that were really running things? Or will she just blame Trump and Elon Musk? My guess is the latter. I don’t expect any revelations about Joe Biden’s decline from her book.

Beyond that, Harris is considering a range of options to make sure she remains in the national spotlight.

Amid the drawn-out deliberations, Harris had reached out to former California governors to ask what she could get done on the job and asked aides for research and memos that outlined other options.

Among those options: Starting a 501(c)(4) organization focused on the information ecosystem and how to empower younger voters while rethinking institutions key to democracy, creating a political action committee to raise money for other candidates, and doing a listening tour of Southern states with a 2028 presidential bid in mind.

Helping candidates in the midterms, a listening tour, starting a 501(c)(4) aimed at winning over young voters— it sure sounds to me like she’s planning to run for president again. None of the people around her are saying that directly, but if you read between the lines a bit, it’s there.

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), among the Democrats she has spoken with in recent months as she weighed a run, said he knew it was a “difficult decision” for Harris. But he said he was hopeful Harris will be a key player in next year’s midterm elections.

“I think she feels at this moment she needs to help Democrats win back Congress and help Democrats across the country. She feels a real responsibility about where the country is headed,” said Garcia, who has known Harris for more than a decade. Harris swore him in when he was first elected mayor of Long Beach in 2014 before he became a member of Congress.

“A lot of us want to see her help us engage in the midterms and help the House, raise money [for candidates] and got to battleground districts,” he said.

Another confidante said that unlike running for governor, which would require her to come up with policy proposals now, running for president in 2028 lets her kick that can down the road.

“To run for governor, you have to get more specific and granular to what the legislature is working on – and she’s needed in the national conversation,” the first person who spoke to her told CNN. As for running for president again, “it means she doesn’t have to make a decision right now, but she can spend time leading.”

Dodging specifics seems like something near the core of her skill set. But the ultimate goal seems pretty obvious. Gavin Newsom has a rival in the 2028 Democratic nomination race. The cackle will return to your television set soon enough whether you want it to or not. Let’s call it Brat Summer 2: Electric Boogaloo.