INTERVENTION

Top Dem’s 2028 Plans Hit a Snag Close to Home

A member of Harris’ inner circle reportedly said they don’t want her to run for president again.

Kamala Harris faces unlikely pushback if she launches a 2028 bid for the White House: Her husband has reportedly confided that he wants her to let the prospect go.

Doug Emhoff has privately admitted to others within the former vice president’s circle that he has concerns about another run, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Harris, who lost the 2024 presidential election to Donald Trump after former President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, said last month that she is undecided on whether or not to run again. However, she had also taken some steps towards candidacy, including campaigning alongside Democratic candidates in the midterm elections, and speaking with major donors.

Harris is also the frontrunning Democratic presidential candidate, according to polling from late September, which put her 21 points ahead of her potential rival California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

However, many of her political allies still refuse to back her: “No thanks,” Iowa’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rob Sand told Politico in August. “Let’s move on. We need some new leadership.”

Harris has largely been seen as part of the Democratic establishment that many candidates and voters believe the party needs to move away from. Recent political newcomers, including New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, instead have been seen by some as the party turning over a new leaf.

“We’ve got a number of younger-generation people who are capable of leading,” Fletcher Smith, a former South Carolina state legislator and one of Biden’s surrogates in the state in 2020, told The Washington Post. “I think what she needs to do is sit out 2028 and let some other people have a shot at saving our democracy.”

The details of Emhoff’s comments around Harris’ candidacy were not reported by The Wall Street Journal, and representatives for Kamala Harris have not responded to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.

Play Video

However, Harris still has huge name recognition, as well as significant experience in the White House, meaning that some Democrats still back her. Harris has huge support among Black female voters in particular, a loyal voting bloc that Democrats may not want to jeopardize.

L. Louise Lucas, the first woman and Black president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate, told The Washington Post that there was “no question” that Black women she knows would see the Democrats’ rejection of Harris as another lost opportunity for a Black female candidate, who they see as having never been given a fair shot.

NEXT GEN

Democrats’ ‘New Obama’ Gets Huge Boost From the OG

Annabella Rosciglione

A potential Harris run could also still significantly shape the Democratic race even if she wasn’t the selected candidate: Gavin Newsom told CNN last month that he wouldn’t run against her in 2028 if she were to launch a bid. “I wouldn’t do that to her,” Newsom said. “I wouldn’t waste everybody’s time.”

Harris has recently been focused on campaigning for the midterms, including appearing alongside Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. She also joined a get-out-the-vote call with the Democratic National Committee last week.

“I do sincerely believe 28 won’t matter if we don’t get through 26,” Harris told voters last month.

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Paige BrutonBreaking News Reporter

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.