Questions revolve around Vice President Harris’ next move as she prepares to leave the White House following her loss to President-elect Trump.

Early polls suggest Democrats I want to see Harris again vying for the Oval Office in 2028, despite losing this cycle. But some in the party believe the vice president could seek another office — for starters, the governor’s mansion in California — or pursue moves outside of electoral politics to help build resistance to a second Trump term.

“She still has a long career ahead of her,” said Democratic strategist Kate Maeder. “She’s young for politics in this country, and I think people are really excited to see what she does next, because she’s built such a powerful following around her, and I think that comes through. will continue after the elections.”

Election Day was a deadly night for Democrats. Trump swept every swing state and made inroads into blue strongholds as most of the country has moved to the rightand the GOP secured both houses of Congress to pave the way for a power trio in Washington next year.

But in her speech conceding the 2024 race to her Republican rival, Harris stressed that she would never give up “the fight that fueled” her fast-tracked candidacy.

The outgoing vice president, 60, “still has some fight in her,” Maeder said. “Whether it’s public policy or fighting for good in the private sector, I think remains to be seen.”

Harris is one of a small handful of vice presidents in recent history who attempted the presidency and lost, and each took different paths afterward, noted Joel Goldstein, professor emeritus at the University of Texas Law School. Saint Louis University and Vice Presidential Expert. Richard Nixon unsuccessfully attempted to become governor of California before returning to the White House in 1968, and Hubert Humphrey returned to the Senate. Al Gore never ran for political office again, focusing on environmental activism and winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

“So there are a lot of different options available to her,” Goldstein said. “I think if she wants to stay active in presidential politics, that’s certainly something that’s open to her…if that’s the path she wants.”

A survey from the UC Berkeley Institute of Government Studies and the Los Angeles Times found this month that nearly half of California voters would be likely to support her if she entered the 2026 gubernatorial race.

“If she decided to run for president in 2028, she would start as the favorite,” said Jim Kessler, co-founder of the center-left think tank Third Way. “I don’t think it’s a prohibitive favorite, but certainly someone who would start at the top, who would be able to raise money, who would be known to the voters and who would do very well in of his short campaign against Trump.

But early lists of possible 2028 candidates are already filled with rising Democratic stars, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. This area could make it difficult for Harris to recapture the momentum she saw this year.

“I think she would have a hard time winning a primary in 2028 and it’s just too long until then… when there are so many people sitting out there who are going to show up, probably run” , said Democratic strategist Fred. Hicks.

Instead, there could be another opening for Harris in her home state of California, which is already considered a political stronghold. blue state resistance to Trump’s new term.

Newsom is term limited and is not eligible for re-election when his seat becomes vacant in 2026, leaving the governor’s mansion up for grabs.

A survey of the UC Berkeley Institute of Government Studies and the Los Angeles Times found this month that nearly half of California voters would be likely to support her if she entered the 2026 gubernatorial race.

That could put her in “a prime position to fight Trumpism during the latter part of his term,” Hicks said. Newsom’s office said California officials were prepared to “Trump-proof” state lawsand the state attorney general is likewise on alert to resist Trump’s controversial policies. But the governorship and AG seat will be up for grabs in 2026.

While campaigning for the White House this year, Harris touted her experience as a prosecutor in California. She served as San Francisco District Attorney and then as state attorney general, making history as the first woman, first African American, and first Asian American in both offices. assembled in 2017 in the U.S. Senate, where she represented the progressive bastion until joining the Biden administration.

Running for a four-year term as governor would likely eliminate Harris from contention in 2028, but it wouldn’t necessarily mean she would never try to run for the Oval Office again, Hicks said, pointing to 2032 and emphasizing the younger age of Harris compared to Trump. and Biden, both more than 20 years older.

But whatever path Harris chooses, “she can and must become the face of Democratic resistance,” Hicks argued.

Democratic lawyer and strategist Abou Amara said the California gubernatorial race, another presidential campaign or even a move into the world of advocacy all appear to be on the table for Harris, but that “goal no. 1” is to “really preserve flexibility as it moves forward.” »

“Another part of that question is: What is the cornerstone of his political career? » said Amara.

And as the dust settles in 2024, experts also expect Harris to be able to jump into the Democratic Party’s soul-searching efforts and tell her own story of what happened during the race. After her defeat by Trump in 2016, Clinton chronicled his offer in a memoir aptly titled “What Happened.”

“I think that will absolutely be part of the next eight to 12 months, to decompress what happened,” Amara said. “I expect her, whether through speeches or by writing a book, to actually lay out her understanding of what happened. Because Democrats are going to bicker with different theories…but I think it would be important to hear it directly.

Pundits and Democratic activists pointed out that, just weeks after Election Day and two months before the White House changes hands, it was early to crystal ball peer into Harris’ future. Nonetheless, consensus predicts that the outgoing vice president will stay in the game and remain a changemaker for the party in its post-2024 rebuild.

“I think she deserves some well-deserved time to rest and think about her next steps,” Maeder said. “I think she has proven to the Democratic Party and the nation that she has something to offer when it comes to leadership and the next generation of leaders that the Democratic Party is so hungry for. And so what she does next, I think remains to be seen.

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