Harris needs to realize she isn’t going to be president. But she just won’t let it go.
And now Kamala Harris just had her presidential hopes shattered.
THE VERDICT FROM THE DEMOCRATIC BASE: ‘WHY?’
The whisper campaign against Kamala Harris running again in 2028 has now become a full-throated op-ed — and it’s coming from someone who voted for her. In a piece published Friday by USA Today, liberal columnist Sara Pequeño delivered an unusually candid assessment of the former vice president’s political future, and the conclusion wasn’t flattering.
“I have no doubt in my mind that she knows what the job entails. What I doubt is that she has the backing to actually secure the presidency for the Democrats. In all of this fanfare over her potential run, my question is, ‘Why?'” Pequeño wrote. “Why is she willing to humiliate herself and the Democratic Party for a second time? Why does she think she has a better shot this time? What has she done to better the lives of people who voted for her in the months since she lost the presidential election?”
The piece arrives as Harris herself has been coyly stoking 2028 speculation, telling Al Sharpton in a recent interview that she “might” make another run at the White House. The answer delighted her supporters and alarmed Democrats with longer memories — including, apparently, those at USA Today.
A DEVASTATING LOSS AND A SILENCE THAT FOLLOWED
Pequeño, a Harris voter in 2024, doesn’t sugarcoat the problem. She describes Harris’ chances of winning in 2028 as “slim” and tells readers flatly that “the nation has far too much to lose to bet on her.” The numbers back up the skepticism: while Harris leads some Democratic primary polls, betting markets put her odds of securing the nomination at just over 9%.
The columnist also went after the narrative that sexism or race cost Harris the election, calling those who believe it “naive.” “On the presidential campaign trail, Harris failed to establish a clear message on affordability, continuously touted the lethality of the U.S. military and gave non-answers on the situation in Gaza and transgender issues,” Pequeño wrote. “She aimed for the middle by following the playbook that former President Joe Biden had laid out for her, and ended up pleasing no one in the process.”
The critique is blunt and difficult to argue with. Harris lost every major swing state and became the first Democratic presidential candidate to lose the popular vote since 2004 — a staggering collapse for a party that had convinced itself it held a structural advantage with the American electorate. Trump, meanwhile, won decisively, validating his America-First agenda in the most definitive terms possible.
ABSENT, UNPOPULAR, AND YESTERDAY’S NEWS
Perhaps most damaging is Pequeño’s assessment of what Harris has done — or failed to do — since November. The answer, in the columnist’s telling, is essentially nothing. She accuses the former vice president of being “absent from the conversation” during President Trump’s second term, and argues that she can’t “ignite enthusiasm” among progressive Democrats. She also notes that Harris “burned bridges” with the establishment wing after publishing her memoir last year.
“For most people, Harris’ name carries baggage from the 2024 presidential campaign, as well as her failure to do anything of note following her attempt to reach the Oval Office. She hasn’t done much to cement herself as the new leader of the Democratic Party in the aftermath,” Pequeño wrote. She added that even Hillary Clinton, who lost the 2016 race, “at least” won the popular vote — a distinction Harris cannot claim.
The irony here is hard to miss. The Democratic Party that spent four years insisting Donald Trump was an existential threat to democracy can’t find a single credible standard-bearer willing to make that case compellingly enough to win. Harris tried, lost badly, went quiet, and is now mulling a comeback. From Trump’s vantage point, that’s the best possible news heading into 2028.
