California’s next governor or head of Planned Parenthood — what Kamala Harris could do next

Taking the top job in her home state might be on the VP’s agenda, but she may also be eyeing up a 2028 presidential run

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On Jan 20 Kamala Harris will be unemployed after more than 20 years as an elected official.
One job has been floated as a possibility for the former prosecutor: governor of California.
Dan Morain, Ms Harris’s biographer and author of Kamala’s Way: An American Life, said if Ms Harris were to run for California, she would likely win by over 2 million votes.
But he added that such a move would be “complicated on a personal level” as she is close friends with Eleni Kounalakis, California’s lieutenant governor who is also expected to run.
“I would be surprised if she tried to elbow her friend, Lady Kounalakis, aside. I would be surprised, I would not be shocked”, he told The Telegraph
“Being governor of California is a pretty cool job, a lot of clout, especially in an era when you know Trump is going to be president… [it’s a] perch from which she could make political points, and run [for president] in 28 or 32.”
Mr Morain warned that if Ms Harris does run for the statewide role, she should focus on the job in hand rather than plan for another presidential run.
“It would be a blunder for her to run for governor, become governor, and then immediately start running for president.
“It’s really a big job, and past governors who have tried to run for president have failed miserably. So, if she’s going to be governor, she has to be governor… she probably would, would fail at both.”
A recent poll found nearly half of voters would be very or somewhat likely to support Ms Harris, 60, if she runs to replace Gavin Newsom in her home state.
Mr Newsom, who is tipped to run for the White House in 2028, is retiring at the end of his term in 2026 in compliance with California’s two-term limit on the governorship.
The survey, from UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and the Los Angeles Times, found that nearly three quarters of Democrats would be very or somewhat likely to consider Ms Harris for the role.
Ms Harris’s career has been filled with firsts: first female vice-president, first female and first black California attorney general. If she won the gubernatorial race, she would become the first woman to hold that office too.
If Ms Harris opted for a run as governor of the Golden State, she would be following the career moves of Richard Nixon, who ran an unsuccessful campaign in 1962, two years after losing the 1960 presidential election.
He became president seven years later, in 1969.
Adrian Hemond, a Democrat strategist based in Michigan, said he could see Ms Harris running to replace Mr Newsom.
“She would be pretty well positioned to do something like that, obviously [she has a] sky high name ID in California, and she’s been a statewide elected official there before… she would start as the front runner”, he said.
Mr Hemond suggested Ms Harris could make another presidential attempt “with a little bit more runway to actually build out a campaign of her own”.
However, he thinks this will depend on the results of the 2026 midterms.
“If the Democrats have a good year, even short of a blue wave in the 2026 midterm elections, I think that might make her more likely to run. If they have a rough year, I think she’d be somewhat less likely to run but some of this also depends on, you know, what does the issue environment look like, right? And how well suited she is to that issue’s environment.”
Whether Democrats would be keen to field Ms Harris as a candidate for a second presidential election remains to be seen. While many are still reeling from Mr Trump’s success, four years is a long time in politics.
Democrat strategist Joe Caiazzo said it was promising that the party “very, very quickly coalesced around her because they knew that she was capable and qualified for the job.”
But, he added that the 2028 primary field will likely be crowded.
“We have a history in our party that when you lose the presidency, the next primary process is typically filled with lots of candidates”, he said.
Mr Morain said there were several other avenues he could see Ms Harris taking, including becoming a university president and taking a leadership position at a non-profit such as Planned Parenthood or the American Civil Liberties Union.
He believes Ms Harris does not yet know her next move.
“She’s had a very intense four years, and you know, she has not had a break from elective office since she was first elected 21 years ago, in 2003 so she may take some time and just kind of decide what is next”, he said.
“I could well see her becoming university president, if it’s the right university, like, I don’t know, Howard University [her alma mater] or the University of California,” he said.
Ms Harris could also go into the private sector and make money, although Mr Morain says she is not motivated by financial rewards.
“She likes to live well, and she likes good food and that sort of thing, but she’s not motivated by becoming a billionaire, I don’t think that that’s her goal”, he said.
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