Kamala Harris now says that she will decide by the end of the summer whether to run for governor of California in 2026. The fact that she is thinking already in terms of a timeline to run for a specific office is a pretty strong signal that Harris — who has been in public office all her life and seems to have nothing else to do at the moment — is going to run.
With Gavin Newsom term-limited, there may not be another Democrat with the stature and fundraising prowess to beat Harris in California’s jungle primary system — for example, Katie Porter looks diminished after her loss to Adam Schiff, and Karen Bass isn’t exactly in great shape to angle for a promotion. While California voters may finally be unhappy enough with their lot to think about electing a Republican for the first time since 2006, the GOP’s cupboard of plausible candidates is also pretty thin, and the dynamics of a midterm election . . .
