Maybe you’ve heard that former VP Harris wants to run for governor of California. Maybe she wants to do a Nixon, or lose a governor’s race and then come back a few years later. I don’t know if that’s the plan, but she is having problems persuading the donors, i.e. the people who write those big checks!
According to Politico, there are concerns:
Kamala Harris is ramping up her outreach to longtime supporters as she weighs a run for California governor. But many Democratic donors aren’t enthusiastic, still hobbled by the hangover of her presidential loss.
Some party funders have privately shared that ambivalence with each other as Harris has embarked on a quiet schedule of thank you visits, catch-up calls and listening sessions, touching base with her most trusted supporters as she weighs her options. The former vice president has tasked aides with exploring several paths, including not just a campaign for political office but also a philanthropic venture.
In interviews, several major donors in the state told POLITICO they fear her reemergence as a candidate would re-open still-fresh wounds from her defeat in 2024. Some harbor lingering frustration about how her billion-dollar campaign juggernaut ended in debt and want assurances she would have a clear plan to win the governor’s mansion. Others are impatient for Harris to start publicly making her case for why she’d want the job.
‘There was more enthusiasm at first,’ said Mather Martin, a San Francisco-based fundraiser who has worked for past Harris campaigns. ‘I think it waned a bit.’
Ambivalence? Really? Maybe they saw the same campaign that we did. Remember the VP that would not answer questions freely or expose herself to the usual back and forth of media encounters? They thought that the VP would win because everybody hates Trump and you know the rest of that story. It turns out that the voters want a presidential candidate who answers questions and she was not the type.
Another issue in California is that the Golden State is facing some real tough times, especially budgetary ones and gasoline prices. It’s hard to believe that a campaign based on word salads, such as “It’s time for us to do what we have been doing, and that time is every day” or “Our allies have stood firm and unified in a way… to ensure that we are unified.” Those lines may not go down well with people paying $8 for a gallon of gasoline.
Yes there are times for word salads, but it’s probably not today, California. So let’s see how this latest chapter in the Kamala story turns out. My advice would be to shift gears and focus on some philanthropic work, because the demands are not nearly as complicated in that industry.
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Image: Public domain.