Former Vice President Kamala Harris closed down when he announced Wednesday that he would not run for California governor. But she left many people behind.
Past presidents, vice presidents, first ladies and failed presidential candidates have pursued all kinds of paths in the past. They have the ability to name recognition and influence, but without official role filling, they have the freedom to choose their next adventure.
Al Gore had a career in global warming, while George W. Bush painted. John Kerry and Hillary Clinton continued as Secretary of State, while Donald Trump fought with prosecutors, launched a new business venture and planned his resumption of power. Barack and Michelle Obama formed their own foundations, wrote books and started a production company, and both did podcasts while still maintaining a significant voice within the Democratic Party.
Of course, Harris can focus all his energy on another presidential race in 2028. But how will she do that, and how will she maintain political significance during this period? What other paths might she choose?
“She just finished a book. She finally decided she wasn’t running for governor. But it would be too early to stipulate the role she was going to play next and how it looks,” said Kirsten Allen, senior counsel for Harris.
Power and political leadership experts believe Harris’ next move is something in the eyes of the public because she was still young at 60, and undoubtedly her final chapter makes her final chapter something other than the loss of humility towards Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
“Even if not the governor of California, other than the 2024 election is the last thing Kamala Harris has ever done, and it’s very engaging.” Gregory H. Wenger, assistant professor of public and international affairs at the University of Cincinnati.
Wenger said his research shows that in the post-white House era, those “the most active attempts to be influential” were those who ended with sourness, such as failing to win reelection.
“It’s a frustrating ambition that then leads to higher activity,” Wenger said.
Harris cautiously openly disclosed her choices when she announced she would not run for governor, which made her hope for the future a hope around ideals such as “fighting for the American people.”
She said she is a “devoted civil servant” and has long believed that the best way to make a difference is to “improve the system from within.” But she also said, “Our politics, our governments and institutions often fail the American people”, “we must be willing to pursue change through new methods and new ideas – committed to our same values and principles, but not bound by the same script.”
Harris said she looks forward to talking to more Americans while helping to elect other Democrats.
Within 24 hours, she announced a book deal for her upcoming memoir, 107 Days, which will document her whirlwind’s 2024 presidential campaign and its first interview since Thursday night’s “Later Show with Stephen Colbert” election.
Nathanael Fast, director of the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making at the University of Southern California Marshall Business School, said Harris’s talk about “looking back and listening” was consistent with her hope to regain her important national position. He said it could mean another presidential campaign, but it could also mean something else, especially in the near term, that she has a job to reshape what people think of her.
Quickly say: “If she can give a compelling narrative of who she is, what she does, what happened in the last election and where she will be next, she is more likely to succeed.”
Fast said his bet was that she ran for president, but he could also see her going on Gore’s route – after losing the presidential election, he decided to move in a different direction, making global impacts by addressing climate change.
“I can imagine someone like Harris taking AI and saying, ‘My whole thing is trying to influence national dialogue around what’s going on in AI,” Fast said.
A source familiar with her mind said that AI is part of her portfolio as vice president and is a topic that Harris is very concerned about, asking for anonymous and frank talk about her next steps.
Experts say Harris must also be cautious as she strives to re-enable her influence in the Democratic Party, which still goes from a second defeat to Trump.
Sara Sadhwani, a political professor at Pomona College, said Democrats have been working to unify different elements of the party and settle on the news of the kitchen table, which has attracted the daily challenges faced by voters.
After her loss to Trump, the convicted felon targeted several other criminal investigations, “Harris demonstrates that he cannot bind that needle.”
Regardless of Harris’ breakdown, it’s not easy in today’s saturated media and political markets, which is very different from what other former White House residents face.
After refusing to run for re-election in 1928, former President Coolidge wrote a national joint newspaper column. Today, Harris is more likely to launch a podcast—but anyone has guessed it nationwide.
Wenger said Harris does have numerous names recognized, quickly saying she has many important forms of “capital” that allow leaders to continue to succeed and influence people, including finance and society.
However, “It’s tough,” the winger said. “It’s a very different media ecosystem, just because of how crowded and broken it becomes.”
Kyle Lierman has worked at the Obama White House for more than six years and is now CEO of Civic Nation, a non-partisan nonprofit with multiple education, gender equality and voter initiatives, including when we all voted, Voter Initiative Michelle Obama launched in 2018.
Lierman said he was happy to see what Harris would do next, because it likely showed her “best side”.
“When you’re in the White House, you’re working on a dozen different topics every day, and you’re trying to make the most of the impact possible before the clock runs out,” Lierman said. “When you leave, you’re going to have a chance to take a step back and think about long-term, and discuss some of the issues you’re particularly passionate about. I think that’s liberating in some ways.”
Harris’ longtime friend Laphonza Butler said the former vice president might draw inspiration from the blueprints she elaborated on by her recent predecessor.
“Whether you’re talking about the Clinton Global Initiative, or all of us vote… or the work that’s happening at the Obama Foundation, I think there are many examples,” Butler said.
Many former presidents have used their experience in foreign affairs and the influence of continuing international relations with foreign leaders, especially when members of their own party return to power. For example, President Clinton used President Carter in this way.
Andra Gillespie, a political scientist at Emory University, said Harris may be “really effective” in organizations that strengthen work for racial justice and elect women, but said “this is not something she organized her political career ahead of the 2024 election” and that may not be the path she has chosen now.
Gillespie said she read Harris’ statements that she was most interested in finding a way to force change outside the government. She said she could see Harris already in California, and his husband Doug Emhoff was an entertainment lawyer — moving into production and podcasts like Obama.
Gillespie said she could also see Harris working closely with Howard University, her alma mater in Washington, D.C., to raise funds or build a new learning center, as Joe Biden did at the University of Delaware.
“She is still young and can still engage in active participation for 15 to 20 years in front of her, no matter what form she wants to take,” Gillespie said.
