Kamala 2028?
Can Kamala Harris emulate Trump's political comeback in the next election cycle?
A few weeks ago, I made a post on my Instagram predicting that Vice President Harris would try a political comeback in 2028. As I correctly predicted, Vice President Kamala Harris has recently expressed her desire to make a political comeback in 2026 and 2028. According to Yahoo Finance, the soon-to-be Former Vice President has told allies that she intended to run for Governor of California in 2026 and potentially make a national comeback in 2028.
So far, polls have shown Vice President Harris to be the favorite Democratic candidate to run in 2028 at 41%, which represents a significant lead over the other contenders: Gavin Newsom, Josh Shapiro, Tim Walz, Pete Buttigieg, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, J.B. Pritzker, and other several leaders. That this mean that she will necessarily be the presidential nominee for the Democratic Party in 2028?
While many reasons explain Kamala Harris’ defeat, I believe that the fundamental reason for which she lost is that she was plain and simple a weak candidate, unable to connect with middle America. Indeed, in the 2020 primaries, Kamala Harris did not win a single delegate. In 2024, she was de facto crowned as the Democratic nominee for president. And yet, she was severely defeated by Donald Trump, losing the popular vote and the electoral college. She was unable to articulate her vision, explain with clarity her policies, and was unable to connect with the average American.
It is important to emphasize that her candidacy was not simply the reflection of her political incompetence, it was also a reflection of how astray the Democratic Party had gone. Kamala Harris’ candidacy was the reflection of an entitled elite completely disconnected from the realities of the average American voter instead of the reflection of a party that represents and defends the daily struggles of the working-class. The Democratic Party focused on identity politics and woke culture—a concept that seriously exacerbates the American public as it breeds social totalitarianism—instead of focusing on policies that would improve the living conditions of the middle and working classes.
What the Democratic Party failed to realize in this election is that Americans have grown tired of identity politics as all it does is suppress people’s civil liberties such as their freedom of speech. Indeed, identity politics and woke culture have grown poisonous. People can no longer speak their minds for fear of offending individuals and groups and see the repercussions of their inadvertent offense affecting their lives (job loss, tarnishing their reputation…etc.). Woke culture had become social totalitarianism because it reinforced cancel culture—a culture solely focusing on silencing those we disagree with and destroying their reputation. In a nutshell, identity politics and woke culture became unbearable for the average American, and unsurprisingly, the American voters elected Donald Trump on November 5th, to express their blatant rejection of identity politics and the continuation of Biden’s policies under the Harris administration. The main question I’ve been asking myself here is the following: On what platform will Kamala Harris run to make her political comeback?
It is challenging to exactly situate Kamala Harris on the political spectrum as she seems to have no ideological spine. Yes, she is a Democrat but what kind of Democrat is she? Some media outlets such as CNN claimed that she is a moderate liberal (center-left) as her positions mirrored those of President Biden’s. Other outlets claim that she’s too progressive to be considered a moderate liberal. Thus, it is hard to predict under which ideological framework would she run for Governor in 2026, especially if Gavin Newsom decides to seek another term as governor as he occupies the progressive wing of the Party in California politics.
It is far too early to determine under which platform will Kamala Harris run for president in 2028, and there is no guarantee that she will remain the favorite option to represent the Democratic Party in the presidential elections that year. In order to increase her chances of securing the nomination in 2028, she will have to do a massive introspection about her leadership style and how she connects with voters. So far, her style has proven to not be appealing as she’s too calculated, too scripted, and unnatural. If she wants to have a shot in 2028, being natural is a must. When a candidate is not natural, voters can sense it. Donald Trump is loved by many people because he is authentic, and authenticity is something that cannot be bought.
If Kamala Harris ends up becoming the Democratic nominee for the presidential election in 2028, I am still not confident that she will win the presidency because her inner qualities are not strong enough to make a consequential impact on the average voter.