Gavin Newsom Has a Kamala Harris Problem

        Former Vice President Kamala Harris recently dropped several not too subtle hints that she wants to run for president in 2028. Polls, at least for now, show the leading likely Democrat candidate is California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Many Democrat pundits and insiders say Harris’ failed run against Donald Trump renders her damaged goods, and therefore insufficiently attractive to the donor class.

        The Los Angeles Times recently wrote: “As Kamala Harris eyes a possible 2028 presidential bid, there is little outward enthusiasm among her biggest 2024 backers to fund a repeat performance …

        “The Times reached out to more than two dozen top donors to the biggest proHarris super PAC in 2024. Several of them said they do not plan to support her. Should she choose to run or declined to talk about her. Others did not respond.”

        For Harris, this sounds ominous. But there’s a flaw in this reasoning, and it represents a huge threat to Newsom’s plans, as well as those of any of the other names floated as possible candidates.

        It is true that Harris lost every swing state. It is true that Harris performed worse than Biden among nearly every major racial and gender demographic group, except one: black women. Among black men, Donald Trump got 20% of their vote, an astonishingly high number for a Republican presidential candidate. But black women stood firm. They love Harris.

        A Washington Post exit poll found Harris, among black female voters, got over 92% of their vote, a higher percentage than those who voted for Biden. Newsom, like many Democrats who refused to say so out loud, believed Biden lacked the capacity to run for reelection. Like a vulture, he hovered above the White House looking for a time to pounce. But Newsom knew black female voters, the most loyal part of the Democratic base, would not take kindly to a white male elbowing Harris out of the chance to become the first female president and the first black female president. So, he gritted his teeth and sat it out.

        Many black female voters consider the jokes about Harris’ “cackle” and the disparaging comments about her “word salad” answers both sexist and racist. In November 2021, TheGrio, a publication that focuses on the black community, published an article defending Harris against what it considered unfair criticism with this headline: “Can a sista get a break? Kamala Harris is an easy scapegoat amid media’s broadside against her.” It is a must-read for Newsom and others looking to compete against a possible Harris candidacy.

        The author, Sophia A. Nelson, who once ran for Congress as a Republican but is now an independent, wrote: “… A group of my sorority sisters (Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.) and I were lamenting about how little respect Harris, also a soror, receives from her own administration and national media.

        “As the first woman and first woman of color to be elected to the nation’s second highest office, you would expect that Vice President Harris would have been given a much higher-profile portfolio of issues to manage, as well as be used more strategically, considering the loyal and influential Black women voter base of the Democratic Party. …

        “Why is Harris getting the blame for the clear dysfunction of the Biden administration? Because she is the easy scapegoat. Aren’t we always?

        “Black women are as Zora Neale Hurston once said, ‘the mules of the world.’ We do all the work and we plow, and we dig, and we support, and we help. And in return we get little to no thanks — just as Harris and Black women voters who put Biden in the White House are finding out. …

        “Black women are always the spectators in the arena, versus being allowed the space be one of the victors in the arena. … It’s always a double standard for Black women — and it’s exhausting.”

        South Carolina will be an early, if the not first, Democrat primary state for the 2028 presidential election. Sixty percent of the South Carolina Democrat primary voters are black, and of that number 60% to 65% are black females.

        How will Newsom explain his “vote-for-me-instead-of-Kamala” candidacy to black female Democrat voters, many of whom feel disrespected and unrewarded despite their loyalty to the party? Simply demonizing Trump as a “fascist” won’t cut it.

        Good luck, Gavin.

        Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on X @larryelder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

Editor’s note: We now have the room to run syndicated commentary by some of our favorite and most provocative thinkers on the Right. That only happens because of the support of our readers, who ensure that we have the resources to keep providing an independent platform and independent voices in a sea of Protection Racket Media domination. 

Help us maintain that fight! Join Hot Air VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.