Kamala Harris is taking concrete steps toward another run for the White House even as she publicly insists she hasn’t made up her mind, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing people familiar with the former vice president’s conversations.
The Journal reports Harris has been meeting with major donors, hiring staff, and traveling to battleground states — activity that typically precedes a presidential campaign, even as she tells associates she remains undecided on a 2028 bid.
Speaking at a NAACP event in Detroit, Michigan, last month, Harris tied any future decision to the outcome of this November’s midterms.
“I have not decided if I’m going to run again,” Harris told the crowd, which gave her a lengthy standing ovation. “I do sincerely believe ’28 won’t matter if we don’t get through ’26.”
The remarks came during a fireside chat with the Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit Branch of the NAACP, and the Rev. Genetta Y. Hatcher at Fellowship Church on September 22, 2026.
Donors, Staff and a Growing Operation
Harris has appeared at roughly half a dozen private fundraisers in California ahead of the midterms and joined a Democratic National Committee get-out-the-vote call, urging more than 2,000 volunteers to knock on doors in a dozen states.
She has also built out a team of advisers, including chief of staff Candace Bond, a former U.S. ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, and communications director Eduardo Negrón.
Fundraising records show the Harris Victory Fund pulled in more than $10.3 million between January and September 2025, with $8.5 million of that coming from individual contributions under $200, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Skepticism From Her Own Donor Base
Not everyone close to Harris is on board. The Journal reports some donors have told her directly that another campaign would be a long shot. Her husband, Doug Emhoff, has privately said he’d prefer she not run, though people close to him expect he would support her if she did.
That skepticism runs deeper among her 2024 financial backers. The Los Angeles Times contacted more than two dozen top donors to the largest pro-Harris super PAC in May — many of whom had given at least $1 million — and found little enthusiasm for a repeat bid.
“I think it is too early to pick a favorite in the 2028 race, but Kamala Harris will not be my candidate,” one donor told the Los Angeles Times.
Despite the cool reception from some major donors, Harris still leads most hypothetical 2028 Democratic primary polls and retains strong support among Black voters.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, seen as another potential 2028 contender, said in a September CNN interview that he would not run if Harris entered the race, joking that a primary between two Californians would be a “gift from God for everybody else.”
The Road From 2024
A potential third campaign would follow a bruising 2024 cycle in which Harris won the Democratic nomination without an open primary after President Joe Biden’s abrupt exit from the race, then lost both the Electoral College and the popular vote to President Donald Trump.
Harris first signaled openness to another run in April, telling the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network convention she “might” enter the 2028 race.
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