Kamala Harris is facing mounting donor backlash, political doubts, and fallout from the Biden cover-up controversy as her 2026 California governor hopes begin to unravel.
Kamala Harris thought she could waltz back into politics like nothing happened.
But the Democrat elite are sending her a clear message.
And Kamala Harris got some brutal news that has her campaign dreams coming apart.
Democrat donors are giving Harris the cold shoulder
Kamala Harris is quietly testing the waters for a potential run for California Governor in 2026.
The former Vice President has been making the rounds to longtime supporters, holding private meetings and catch-up calls as she weighs her political future.
But Harris is discovering that many of the same Democrat donors who backed her disastrous 2024 presidential campaign aren’t exactly rolling out the red carpet this time around.
A recent POLITICO report reveals that major Democrat donors are expressing serious doubts about another Harris candidacy.
"There was more enthusiasm at first," San Francisco-based fundraiser Mather Martin told POLITICO. "I think it waned a bit."
The lukewarm reception has to be a crushing blow for Harris, who clearly expected the Democrat establishment to rally behind her latest political ambitions.
One California Democrat who contributed six figures to her presidential campaign delivered a particularly devastating assessment of a potential Harris gubernatorial run.
"Kamala just reminds you we are in this complete s*** storm. With Biden, we got bamboozled… I think she did the best she could in that situation, but obviously she knew about the cognitive decline too," the donor said. "I’ve written so many checks because I knew the Trump administration would be horrible, but we’re living in a nightmare because of the Democrats. I’m furious at them, truly."
Harris’ billion-dollar campaign disaster still haunts donors
The hesitation from wealthy supporters stems largely from memories of Harris’ failed 2024 presidential campaign.
Despite raising over a billion dollars, Harris managed to lose decisively to President Donald Trump while her campaign ended in debt.
Many donors still feel burned by that disaster and harbor ongoing frustration about how her well-funded campaign machine ended up in the red, as POLITICO reported.
They want concrete assurances that Harris would have a clear plan to actually win the governor’s mansion this time around.
But Harris isn’t giving them much to work with.
She’s been deliberately vague about her intentions, keeping supporters in the dark about whether she’s even serious about running.
"It’s very fair to say there’s not an overwhelming clamor" for her candidacy, said Scott Drexel, a Bay Area-based donor adviser. "It’s very hard for there to be one if it’s not 100 percent clear if she really wants to do it."
The uncertainty is creating a sense that Harris is taking Democrat support for granted.
"She’s going to have to work for the nomination," Drexel explained. "Every day that passes, there’s less of a sense of inevitability about her candidacy."
Biden cover-up controversy shadows Harris
Harris faces another major obstacle that threatens to derail any comeback attempt before it even gets started.
Many Democrat donors feel betrayed by what they see as Harris’ role in covering up Joe Biden’s obvious cognitive decline during the 2024 campaign.
Some wonder whether Harris helped prop up Biden’s compromised candidacy until his disastrous debate performance made his mental deterioration impossible to ignore.
The controversy has even prompted fellow Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa, who’s already running for governor, to accuse Harris of being "complicit in a cover-up."
"Donors realize it’s just going to bring up the whole pathetic last presidential, which no one wants to hear about again," said one Southern California fundraiser. "honestly, no one is incredibly pumped."
Even some Harris supporters are growing impatient with her refusal to address the Biden controversy head-on.
They believe she’ll need to confront those questions directly before she can make any positive case for her candidacy.
But Harris has stayed quiet on the matter that has deeply divided her party.
Time running out for Harris decision
Harris has set a late-summer deadline for making her decision about the governor’s race.
She’s reportedly planning a July vacation where she hopes to finally clarify her thinking about her political future.
Her team is exploring three possible paths: running for governor in 2026, mounting another presidential campaign in 2028, or pursuing some kind of philanthropic venture outside of elected office.
But the longer Harris waits to make up her mind, the more her potential advantages in the race start to erode.
Other Democrat candidates are already raising money and building organizations while Harris sits on the sidelines.
"Every time another Democrat enters the race, it becomes a story about ‘Where is she?’ in her decision-making process," Martin noted.
The reality is that Harris’ political brand took a severe beating in 2024, and many Democrats are questioning whether she’s the right person to lead the party forward.
Her indecisiveness and the growing donor skepticism suggest that Harris’ attempted political comeback may be over before it even begins.
California Democrats might be ready to move on from the Kamala Harris era once and for all.
