It's quite obvious that Kamala Harris wants to run for president in 2028, and she has every reason to believe the nomination should be hers. History suggests that she’ll run. Every vice president of the last forty-six years has sought the presidency except Dick Cheney, whom nobody expected to run. Walter Mondale ran in 1984, George H.W. Bush in 1988, Dan Quayle and Al Gore in 2000, Joe Biden in 2020, and even Mike Pence in 2024.
Kamala spent four years one heartbeat from the presidency, hoping Biden wouldn't finish his term, and never got there. And she’s constantly blaming her failed campaign in 2024 on the short time frame of the campaign. She most certainly believes that an earlier start could have made the difference.
But her 2028 hopes face a serious obstacle at home. Her husband, Doug Emhoff, isn't totally on board. According to reports, Emhoff has privately told some people he would rather she not run.
That's an awkward problem, because her schedule says she's already running. She has been talking with major donors, hiring staff, and traveling to battleground states to boost Democrat candidates ahead of the November midterms. All of it looks like the groundwork for a third presidential campaign, even as she insists in public and in private that she hasn't made up her mind.
"I have not decided if I'm going to run again," Kamala said at an NAACP event in Michigan last month, where the audience gave her a lengthy standing ovation. "I do sincerely believe '28 won't matter if we don't get through '26."
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The polls only feed the ambition. Kamala remains at or near the top of early 2028 Democrat primary polling. Her status as the first woman of color to be vice president is the kind of identity politics the Democrat Party embraces.
So everything points to a run, except the man she's married to.
Emhoff has company in his reluctance. Some donors have told Kamala directly that a bid would be a long shot, and they have the math on their side. Her 2024 campaign burned through more than a billion dollars in just over three months, and still lost the Electoral College, the popular vote, and every swing state to President Donald Trump. In fact, 89% of all counties shifted to the right, making it the GOP's biggest national win since the Reagan era. Despite everything she appears to have going for her to win the nomination (her sex and race), you can see why the person who lived through that campaign up close might prefer to skip the sequel.
Even some people who have known and worked with Kamala doubt she will ultimately run. Of course, a few of those same aides admit they could be wrong, or that their skepticism reflects their own hope that she stays out.
Does a reluctant husband end the campaign before it starts? I wouldn't count on it. Rumors circulated that Melania Trump wasn't on board with Trump's third presidential campaign, and he ran anyway. Emhoff's hesitation doesn't mean another run won't happen. It may just mean he’ll likely play a smaller role.
And there’s always the possibility that this is a planted story to give Kamala an excuse for not running. Still, I think she runs.
