California should not settle for Kamala Harris

As Gov. Gavin Newsom terms out next year, California’s highest seat finds itself vacant in front of a contested field of 14 candidates, including some national names like Former Representative Katie Porter and Riverside’s own Sheriff Chad Bianco. One name, however, is notably absent from the race: Former Vice President Kamala Harris.

But where is she? During the Democratic Party of California (CADEM) convention on May 30, 2025, Harris was a no-show. As every other democratic candidate for governor gave speeches and talked with delegates, Harris opted to sit out of the convention. If she truly cared about running for governor, then this was a golden opportunity to gain the backing of prominent democratic voices and, more importantly, inform her potential constituents about what would be on the agenda for her as governor. 

This is especially important since Californians can’t even be sure of which policies Harris is running on. In her first foray onto the national stage in 2020, during her short-lived campaign, she held vastly different policy positions in comparison to her presidential run in 2024. For example, in 2020, Harris was pro-decriminalization of illegal border crossings, yet in 2024 had flipped and insisted that those who crossed the border illegally must face consequences. 

This one policy has major ramifications for California as the Trump administration ramps up its focus on the southern border, and this is just one policy out of many where she has done a complete about-face. Those policy shifts include, but are not limited to: Dropping support for the Green New Deal and for Medicare for All in favor of an expansion of the Affordable Care Act.

While, as of now, we cannot be certain about what policies Harris represents, we do know who she represents — the democratic establishment. While the biggest protests in United States (U.S.) history were going on, Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party elite attended a Hamptons wedding. 

This comes at a time when the American people are soundly rejecting the democratic establishment. Whether that’s through the national election that saw Democrats lose the House, Senate and Presidency while also giving Republicans the popular vote for the first time in 20 years, or whether it’s through democratic voters rejecting establishment mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo in New York in favor of outsider and far-left candidate Zohran Mamdani. 

The message is the same: voters are tired of the establishment, and Harris is inextricably linked to it.

Although Harris has yet to officially declare her candidacy, several candidates, including current frontrunner Katie Porter, have indicated that they would back out if she does indeed choose to run. This type of choice would rob Californians of the chance to have a contested primary where only those with the best policies are granted the governorship. 

It also echoes one of the mistakes of the 2024 election, where many believe that the lack of a Democratic primary hurt Harris, as many voters felt that she was simply being appointed without their choice. It also harkens back to Hillary Clinton’s 2020 presidential run, where many thought that Bernie Sanders was pushed out in favor of the democratic establishment’s candidate, Clinton.

But the issue in California’s 2026 election is not about the possibility of a Republican winning the governorship. Rather, the challenge is that the Democratic Party will force an establishment candidate on voters, who has yet to even take the governor’s race seriously. 

As the establishment grows increasingly unpopular, this will end up breeding apathy amongst California democratic voters. This apathy was already felt in Harris’s 2024 run, where her margin of victory in California was 20.2 percent. The last time the margin hit a low in California was in 2004, when John Kerry won the state by just 9.9 percent against George W. Bush.

Voters’ apathy is not without cause because Harris ultimately heralds more of the same standard policies that have left California unable to tackle its housing and homelessness crisis, as well as the issues on its southern border. She represents an establishment that sits stunned in the face of sweeping and questionable legal reforms by the Trump administration. This is the same establishment whose signature move of defiance was to sit quietly and wear pink during Trump’s State of the Union speech while voting to censure the one Democrat, Al Green, who physically spoke out. 

This kind of lukewarm opposition in the face of the Trump administration that is currently running roughshod over our constitutional rights and governmental processes is outright dangerous in California. The administration has put California squarely within its sights in terms of issues, such as immigration and disaster relief. 

Californians have had the National Guard and Marines mobilized on protests and have had water released from our reservoirs in a political stunt. The livelihoods of Californians rest upon the decisiveness and ability of our governor to counter the worst ambitions of the federal government. 

California needs a governor who can step up and defend Californians, and prevent the federal government from trampleing on our state and our laws. We need a governor who can energize the people and revitalize the Democratic Party in California if we hope to stave off the apathy that is creeping into its voters. 

That requires a candidate with consistency and conviction. We deserve a governor who takes their role seriously and understands what being in command of the fourth largest economy in the world entails. Californians deserve a candidate who earns the privilege to govern, not one who is, for all intents and purposes, appointed by increasingly unpopular leadership while her prospective challengers resign.

While Harris does not represent consistency or conviction in her beliefs, she does have extensive experience working in government and would be qualified based on her resume. She was the California Attorney General, U.S. Senator and Vice President under the Biden administration, which affords her a level of experience within public service that none of the other candidates in the governor’s race can match.

However, her tenure in those roles is not without controversy. As Attorney General, she refused to take a position on a bill that would require her to appoint special prosecutors for police-related deaths, which effectively killed the bill. She also argued against expanding parole credits for nonviolent inmates, saying that it would deplete California’s inmate firefighter workforce. 

The saying “As California goes, so goes the Nation” is not hyperbole; our state is a leader among the U.S., so why should we settle for more of the same? We shouldn’t. 

Harris has yet to decide on whether or not our state is worth her time, but there are plenty of candidates waiting in the wings who see California as the powerhouse that it is and are willing to fight tooth and nail for it.