As former Vice President Kamala Harris considers running in the governor’s career in California, many of her powerful and for a long time, who helped reinforce her to national stardom six years ago, realize ABC News that are warm in a potential presidential career of 2028.
“I think it’s over at the top of the ticket.” A donor, who likes several other donors, spoke with ABC News about the condition of anonymity because they still actively participate in the collection of funds of the Democratic Party. He added: “I think the country will not have moved in a progressive direction during that time, it will have become more conservative.”
The donor was one of the more than 20 donors with whom ABC News spoke of the National Committee of Finance of Harris 2019 that supported Harris as Junior Senator, during the most full Democratic presidential career of history, and remained unified during his 2024 offer.
The support that Harris spent years cultivating faces deep cracks.
Another donor, Areva Martin, who knows Harris from the university, said that Harris has a history of silencing skeptics.
“She has shown that she has the power to stay. When people think they cannot recover, she has demonstrated her ability to do so,” Martin told ABC News.
Kamala Harris falls for a telephone bank event at the headquarters of the National Democratic Committee on the day of the elections of November 5, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Others were no commitments, feeling that it was too early to consider anyone who was applied for president.
“I don’t know if I would get involved at this time even if God was running … I think it will be difficult for any Democrat raising money. There is little enthusiasm,” Michael Kempner told ABC News.
Case for Harris that is postulated for governor
Almost all the members of the National Committee of Finance of Harris 2019 who spoke with ABC News backed her for a governor career.
Harris’s assistants previously told ABC News that will make a decision at the end of summer. Some supporters see a successful Harris offer for the governor in 2026 as a decisive factor to run for president in 2028, due to the short window between an inauguration of governor and a possible presidential launch.
Bakari Sellers, former co -president of Harris’s 2020 campaign, said: “If she wants to run for governor, I don’t think the Katie Porter of the world are formidable. I think if you want to run for president, you must ask: Is the country ready for her? I don’t know the answer to that … Many things will change in the next three and a half years.”
Others avoided commenting on a possible 2028 career, citing time, but expressed their confidence in a Harris government career.
“My opinion and my dedication to it have not changed an Iota. I think it is one of the most talented, bright, friendly and empathic people that I have met in all my time in politics,” said lawyer Judith Barnett to ABC News.
The Democrat Donor for life who said he has met Harris for almost a decade added: “He would think that he will run for governor, directing the fifth largest economy in the world, it would be a good movement. It is not my decision … It’s his whole. But I think it’s a wonderful step,” said Barnett.
Asif Mahmood, who directed the Asian dissemination for the 2019 Harris campaign, said that Harris could follow the steps of another Californian.
“Reagan ran for president. He lost, returned to California, served his state as governor, returned and ran for president and won twice,” said Mahmood, who was also the president of National Finance of Hillary Clinton.
Multiple donors pointed out that if Harris won a governor career, she would make history. She would be the first American Asian woman and the first black woman to be governor of any state.
Kamala Harris speaks at a canvas launch event on November 4, 2024 in Moosic, Pennsylvania.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Only a donor who spoke with ABC News said he was not excited to support Harris for the governor.
“If you even think about running for president, it will be very bad. If you even get the feelings, it will be shameful,” he said, adding, he would need to be convinced to write great checks for any race.
He said that donors fought after Harris’s presidential loss to obtain employee responses: “I don’t want to deal with their campaign apparatus.”
Democrats against Democrats
Some donors who talked to ABC News believe that the lack of consensus about Harris says more about the Democrats than about her.
“The Democratic Party is well known for killing its losers and finding someone else,” said a donor.
“I think that losing to Donald Trump is the cardinal sin of the Democratic Party. The left and the people who supported her do not seem to be trying to articulate that this loss was narrow and her ideas were popular,” said a loyal.
“It is difficult for anyone to return from a loss and run again. Trump is, of course, an exception. In my opinion, I do not think I get significant support as a presidential candidate.” Dr. Manan Trivedi, a donor and former candidate for the sixth district of the Pennsylvania Congress, told ABC News.
Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, Grover Cleveland, Richard Nixon, Trump were all presidential nominated who lost before winning a general election. Grover Cleveland was the only Democrat who achieved the feat.
Some donors were skeptical that Harris joined that list.
“If Kamala wanted to be president of the United States, he needed to position himself as the resistance leader. He has not only done that, but no other leader has driven himself,” said a donor.
Kamala Harris met with the High officials of the White House and the Administration, on January 9, 2025.
Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post through Getty Images
The Montgomery County Commissioner, Neil Makhija, met with Harris during his career in the 2010 Attorney General and said he believes that Democrats have time to position themselves better for a successful presidential career.
“I think he has the luxury of not having to immerse himself in political fray during this time. By focusing on the human impact of what this administration is doing. He could take advantage of his strength as an empathic leader. He could make a difference in these intermediate years,” Makhija told ABC News.
Another donor said that Democrats must be strategic.
“I want to win. I am not supporting a woman, a black person or a gay person. I am supporting the non -threatening white guy. Even if a woman were the best candidate, it would hardly happen until it was really clear that there is a real path,” said a donor woman.
The democratic Bundler Alex Heckler said he has remained a great admirer of Harris, but fears that the Democrats are playing a defensive game.
While he says he is happy with the new president of the party, he says: “Democrats corrected themselves too much. Three white men led the votes by the president of the party, it is ridiculous. We cannot help ourselves. I fight as a Democrat these days.”
“The Democrats are reactionary, they think that two women lost, we cannot put a woman again,” said Heckler.
Activist Tina Duryea said she is also frustrated with the party.
“She [Harris] I could run: ‘Look how miserable it is now that you could have had me’ that could be a very powerful message. I don’t have much tolerance for people who live with fear. The Democrats think too much about things, “Duryea told ABC News. He said he is” 100% behind “any decision made Harris.
Change of political landscape that changes rapidly
Like any voter, donors change their minds about politics. Multiple did it during the course of this report.
Two weeks ago, a prominent donor said: “I don’t think she has it in her,” he added that he believed that the next Democratic “will be one of the governors.”
Former Vice President Kamala Harris accepts the president’s prize on stage during the 56th Naacp Image Awards at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California, on February 22, 2025.
Griffin/Getty images for Bet
But the donor changed his mind after Harris’s recent appearances. “Put your heart and your soul in an choice is devastating. Seeing it [Harris] In recent weeks, he seems to be recovering his legs. She has been talking, “said the donor.
He added: “If the world is falling apart economically and geopolitically and she has an advantage over fundraising, with her recognition and leadership, she could easily become the favorite and win.”
Others recognized that their positions could change.
California Donor Mark Buell said he is observing how the governor and presidential races of California develop before he publicly supports anyone.
“I learned my lesson, you have to wait to see the complete panorama … we have many problems in this country. If I have to hold my nose to vote for a Democrat whom I do not like, but I think I would win, I would do it. It is not who is my favorite or who I love.”
Another donor cited a possible fundamental change in American democracy, led by Trump’s actions.
“I am very reluctant to support a horse. Because I’m not even sure we’re running on horseback,” he said.
“Are we going to have a choice in 2028? When he [Trump] Jokes about it, I don’t know if he’s joking. But I think she would be great. I still think she would have been great, “said Donor Mara Cohen to ABC News.
The DNC delegate of Colorado, Wanda James, expressed his frustration watching Harris’s narrative, arguing that he could easily turn.
“On November 3, we called his perfect campaign,” James told ABC News. “Maybe the United States needs to break so that someone can solve it. I don’t know who will emerge, maybe someone who would suspect, but if the elections were happening tomorrow, he would still be with Kamala.”
Like several other donors, Janni Lehrer-Stein, a donor from Harris and a defender of Harris’s disability, said he has seen Harris several times from the elections, and has not received any indication of what he plans to do in the future, but said: “Kamala Harris will take us to justice and a better life for all.
