Former Vice President Kamala Harris made an unexpected appearance at a leadership summit for black women in California on Thursday, offering a glimpse into her political future following her loss to President Trump in the 2024 election.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Harris said during her nearly 8-minute speech at the Leading Women Defined gathering, per The Hill.
Kamala Harris, who represented California in the U.S. Senate from 2017 until becoming vice president under former President Biden in 2021, is widely believed to be considering a run for governor in 2026. A formal decision is expected by the end of the summer.
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, another former Biden administration official, officially entered the race on Wednesday, launching his campaign for the governorship.
Early polling suggests that if Harris were to jump in, she would be the clear Democratic frontrunner. A February survey by Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics/The Hill found her leading the field with support from nearly 60 percent of likely primary voters.
Harris has so far avoided directly answering whether she plans to run to succeed Governor Gavin Newsom (D), who is barred from seeking another term due to term limits.
Harris did not mention the president by name during her rare public address, but she talked about the alleged “fear” felt in “these last few months in our country.”
“There were many things that we knew would happen, many things,” Harris said in a nod to her presidential campaign.
“I’m not here to say, ‘I told you so,’” she said with a smile as the crowd cheered. “I swore I wasn’t going to say that.”
WATCH:
BREAKING: In a stunning appearance , Kamala Harris just spoke out for the first time against Donald Trump in his second term. This is amazing. pic.twitter.com/kTf1CJKdQ5
— Democratic Wins Media (@DemocraticWins) April 4, 2025
While previous reports have said that Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) played a major role in upending then-President Biden’s reelection bid, a new book reveals even more details about how far the former House Speaker went in attempting to Harris off the Democratic ticket.
Fox News host Jesse Watters, during his Tuesday show monologue, referenced the new book, “Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle For the White House,” by co-authors Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes, in which the writers provided additional insight into Pelosi’s behind-the-scenes meddling.
Watters played a clip of Parnes, in which she described Pelosi’s reaction after watching Biden’s disastrous debate against then-former President Donald Trump: “She watches the debate, she’s unhappy and she thinks that she doesn’t want Democrats to rush into anything in that moment because she thinks if they rush him out then Kamala is going to be in and she does not think that Kamala Harris can win. She’s in a pickle in that moment.”
Watters then ran a clip of Allen, who said: “Her thinking was Biden had to get out and Harris was a disaster and what she was trying to do was get Biden out in time to the Democrats could choose someone other than Harris.”
“Kamala won’t be happy when she sees this, but nobody is more upset with Pelosi than Joe Biden,” Watters said. “According to the new book, ‘Fight,’ after the coup, ‘Biden was with his friends on Air Force One and started naming the people he would never forgive for their betrayal. The first name out of his mouth – Nancy Pelosi. Biden and Pelosi may never talk again.”
He then went to another clip of Parnes, who said: “There is still a lot of friction between the two. She went on air on another network and basically twisted the knife, and he and his campaign aides were in shock. She essentially had her fingerprints all over this. The campaign a new it, he knew it, and I don’t think there’s going to be any love lost.”
Watters added: “But Pelosi was right, Biden did not have what it takes and neither did Kamala. She spent three months and $2 billion crashing and burning, and the whole time, she thought she was winning.”
He then played one last clip of Parnes, who told a CNN panel this week: “We know that they were shocked, completely surprised by the events that unfolded on election night. They thought they were going to win and, you know, when they were told that they were losing in the final hours and that they had lost, there was complete silence and shock and they were dumbfounded by what was happening.”
