Donors tell Politico that Harris’s 2024 campaign was ‘pathetic’ and ‘traumatizing’
As Kamala Harris weighs a run for California governor, many of the state’s top Democratic donors remain unsettled by what they’re calling her “pathetic” and “traumatizing” presidential campaign last fall—and are openly questioning whether she’s the candidate to rally behind again.
“Kamala just reminds you we are in this complete shit storm,” a California Democrat who contributed six figures to her presidential bid told Politico, noting that another Harris candidacy would only remind Democratic voters of the “traumatizing” November election.
“With Biden, we got bamboozled. … I think [Harris] did the best she could in that situation, but obviously she knew about the cognitive decline too,” the donor went on. “I’ve written so many checks because I knew the Trump administration would be horrible, but we’re living in a nightmare because of the Democrats. I’m furious at them, truly.”
This isn’t the first time that California Democrats have publicly expressed frustration about Harris.
Many delegates at the California Democratic Party convention in late May “openly fretted that California was simply a fallback option for Harris,” Politico reported at the time. Others at the convention worried that Harris—who has long floated a run to replace term-limited Democratic governor Gavin Newsom in 2026—is more focused on staging a 2028 presidential bid than in leading California. “My concern about Harris is that she would be using the position, if she won, as a placeholder for a second run at the presidency,” said delegate Carol Weiss.
Harris, who largely stayed out of the public eye following her defeat to President Donald Trump, has recently “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,” according to Politico. The former vice president has said she will make a decision about a gubernatorial run by late summer.
A Harris return would “bring up the whole pathetic last presidential, which no one wants to hear about again,” one Democratic fundraiser told Politico, adding, “She still would probably lead, but honestly, no one is incredibly pumped.”
Other Democratic donors in California echoed that sentiment. “There was more enthusiasm at first,” said Mather Martin, a fundraiser who has worked for multiple Harris campaigns. “I think it waned a bit.”
“It’s very fair to say there’s not an overwhelming clamor” for Harris’s gubernatorial candidacy, said Scott Drexel, an adviser to Democratic donors. “It’s very hard for there to be one if it’s not 100 percent clear if she really wants to do it.”
“California isn’t a consolation prize,” state party delegate Madison Zimmerman said in May.
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