Next week, KAMALA HARRIS will embark on a 10-day, cross-country midterm blitz – exactly the kind you’d expect from a 2028 presidential hopeful. She will campaign for Aaron Ford (NV-Gov), Scott Colom (MS-Sen), David Crowley (WI-Gov), Chris Pappas (NH-Sen), and Jon Ossoff (GA-Sen), along with a virtual event for Angie Nixon (FL-Sen).
But this past week sent far more confusing signals. It included a Wall Street Journal report that her husband, Doug Emhoff, is privately telling people he hopes she doesn’t run. Remarkably, the Harris team did not push back on this reporting at all.
If you were preparing to launch a presidential bid, I have to believe you’d make Dougie eat shit on this – aggressively deny it on the record, rip his leaking friends’ heads off, and then stay at his brother’s house for a couple days. (Andy Emhoff, let me know if you’ve had any couchsurfers recently!)
This was followed by a brutal Politico piece that ran under the headline, “‘She totally blew it’: How Kamala Harris wasted a year to make her case” – the latest in a series of deep-dives futilely attempting to ascertain what, exactly, the 2028 frontrunner is up to.
The week would only grow more confounding.
On Tuesday, a 70-minute sitdown with Keke Palmer dropped – honestly, one of the best Kamala interviews I’ve seen. Here is a quote that immediately jumped out at me:
“There is a freedom that I realize has come with not being in office, and with not feeling concerned about the constant microscope, which parses every word you say, in a way that can be very stifling. I’m feeling quite unburdened by that at the moment… To the point that it stifles your truth, and your expression of truth, that’s when it becomes a problem.”
See, I told you guys she wouldn’t end up running!
Only, two minutes later, she was asked what’s next for her, and, well…
“The one thing I can tell you: I don’t know how to live a life that is not about service. I just don’t. I wanted to serve, which is why I ran. And the desire to serve is still very much in me.”
As I was trying to parse every word in precisely the manner she loathes, an even more notable Kamala clip entered my feed… Her clearest expression of regret to date over the Biden Admin’s "failure to use our leverage to curtail the Israeli government's horrific conduct in the war in Gaza.”
This felt newsy! It’s the kind of thing you might want to get out there ahead of your presidential campaign launch. But strangely, I wasn’t seeing tweets from any of the reporters who normally shadow her on the trail, nor could I remember which battleground state she was in.
It turns out that’s because the comments were made during an unannounced lecture at a policy institute in South Korea, which candidly was not on my “places 2028ers will be making news two weeks before the midterms” bingo card.
So, what exactly is Kamala Harris up to? Well, it’s a bit of a Schrödinger's Campaign situation.
In one telling, she has a consistent lead in 2028 polling, a dozen top-tier political hands on staff, a full slate of rallies in early primary and swing states on tap, and is doing exactly what’s needed to break from the past. In another, she’s flying from her Malibu mansion to keynote Asian think tanks, doing little to carve out a lane or build campaign infrastructure, and even her husband is like, “she’s not running, brother!”
On any given day, I’m not sure which telling is closer to the truth – and I’m not sure she is either. For now, let’s just say, she is winning the battle for the Seoul of the nation.
Q3 FEC Update
Happy FEC Day to all who celebrate! The Q3 deadline hit at midnight – I’ll try to peruse the new reports and include interesting tidbits in next week’s newsletter, but for now, here is the updated fundraising leaderboard, hot off the presses:
Quick Hits
GAVIN NEWSOM doubled down on his efforts to kill the proposed CA wealth tax, endorsing ballot initiative (Prop 42) that would ban taxation of retroactive activity and of personal property other than real estate. Prop 42 – which is opposed by the CA Dem Party – would invalidate the wealth tax if it received more ‘yes’ votes.
NEWSOM is returning to New Hampshire this weekend to campaign for Chris Pappas (NH-Sen) & Stefany Shaheen (NH-01), with stops in Nashua, Concord, Exeter & Manchester.
WES MOORE campaigned for David Crowley (WI-Gov) in Beloit, Racine, Kenosha & Milwaukee. And NBC News’s Adam Edelman interviewed Moore – who is one of only three Black governors elected in US history – about his effort to double those ranks this cycle, as he’s also hit the trail for Keisha Lance Bottoms (GA), Aaron Ford (NV), and Jermaine Johnson (SC).
JON OSSOFF unequivocally committed during a GA-Sen debate to serving his full 6-year term if he wins reelection, reiterating that he has “zero interest in running for president.”
For the doubters, it’s worth noting that OSSOFF is on a glide path to victory with $26M in the bank – which would be quite valuable for a presidential bid – and still plans to spend it all by Election Day.
RAPHAEL WARNOCK – the Georgia Senator who is actually running for president in 2028 and remains deeply undervalued – was profiled by CNN’s Isaac Dovere, and did little to hide his 2028 plans as he continues 9-leg, early state-heavy GOTV tour.
WARNOCK was in SC on Tuesday and is returning Saturday for a pair of rallies with Annie Andrews (SC-Sen), who has mostly kept her distance from national Dems. In between, he campaigned for Scott Colom (MS-Sen), and he still has trips to MI, WI, & OH on tap.
AOC joined a bus tour and 3 events for Abdul El-Sayed (MI-Sen) Thursday, drawing a crowd of 1,300 to Northern Michigan University in Marquette, and perhaps even more impressively hundreds in a very Trumpy, remote region of the Upper Peninsula.
AOC has 3 more solo rallies for Abdul today and then heads to Ohio to campaign for Rep. Emilia Sykes (OH-13) and hold a fireside chat with Kent State students tomorrow.
CHRIS MURPHY spent Tuesday in NC stumping for Roy Cooper, Wednesday in FL with Angie Nixon, & Thursday in Memphis with Justin Pearson (TN-09). He’ll be in the spin room for Abdul El-Sayed at the next MI-Sen debate, and is also going to MN to boost Peggy Flanagan & NH for Chris Pappas.
RO KHANNA campaigned for Josh Turek (IA-Sen) and headlined IA Rep. Sean Bagniewski’s annual fish fry in Des Moines, visited with a Georgia family that’s suing Meta over a data center that has allegedly contaminated their water, and is embarking on a college tour that will bring him to Boston, Orlando, Berkeley and Reno.
Highlights from the Big, Beautiful Tracker
JB PRITZKER on The Making of a President
KAMALA HARRIS on Baby, this is Keke Palmer
ELISSA SLOTKIN on America, Actually with Astead Herndon
RAHM EMANUEL on Hang Out with Sean Hannity
RUBEN GALLEGO on KrassenCast
