Former Vice President Harris made a surprise appearance at a leadership summit for Black women in California on Thursday, previewing her political future after losing the 2024 election to President Trump.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Harris said during her nearly 8-minute speech at the Leading Women Defined gathering.
Harris, who represented the Golden State in the Senate from 2017 until becoming vice president in 2021 under former President Biden, is widely thought to be mulling a run for California governor in 2026. She’s expected to make a formal decision by the end of the summer.
Former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, another ex-Biden official, threw his hat in the ring Wednesday, announcing a gubernatorial campaign in the state.
Early polling has shown that if Harris were to launch a bid, she would be the Democratic front-runner. The former vice president nabbed nearly 6 in 10 likely primary voters in a February survey from Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics/The Hill.
She has previously sidestepped questions on whether she would join the race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who cannot seek reelection because of term limits.
Harris did not mention her former campaign foe, Trump, by name during her rare public address, but she remarked on the “fear” felt in “these last few months in our country.”
Trump returned to the White House in January, four years after he left following his loss to Biden.
“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.”