Harris looking hard at California governor's race, sources say

By Jen Krausz on
 June 23, 2025

Sources close to former Vice President Kamala Harris say she is seriously considering a run for governor in California in 2026, but hasn't made a final decision yet.

The sources told The Hill that Harris doesn't consider herself done with public service and that she has a "glimmer in her eye" when she talks about the possibility of running for governor.

“She has a lot of people in her ear telling her that it makes the most sense and she can do the most good,” one source said.

Another source pushed back on the idea that she's seriously considering a gubernatorial run, saying that the frequent conversations about doing so are happening because the time for making a decision is fast approaching.

Polling advantage

Harris plans to take some time off in July for self-reflection, and has made a self-imposed deadline at the end of the summer when she will make a final decision, other sources said.

The Democrat primary field is already crowded and includes former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who was also Health and Human Services Secretary under former President Joe Biden.

Harris has an early polling advantage, however.

Emerson College poll results in April showed her with 50% support from California voters, and Politico/UC Berkeley Citrin Center also showed she was the frontrunner in the race.

Still a challenge

Despite the early polling lead, some analysts don't think she's necessarily a shoo-in for the race.

“She would start out, at least initially, as the front-runner. There’s no doubt about it because she has 100 percent name ID in California,” California-based Democratic strategist Gary South said. “I think there are real mixed feelings about her among California Democrats, and I think those mixed feelings would grow if she actually got into the race.”

“She doesn’t come into this as an 800-pound gorilla,” he added.

Questions have plagued her as well as Becerra about their awareness of Biden's decline and why they didn't intervene, and those questions would follow her into any political race she decided to enter.

“Voters deserve to know the truth, what did Kamala Harris and Xavier Becerra know, when did they know it, and most importantly, why didn’t either of them speak out? This cover up directly led to a second Donald Trump term,” Villaraigosa wrote last month already in an attempt to weaken his potential rivals.

Her devastating loss to Trump in 2024 could also become an issue in her campaign, analysts said.

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