California senators are taking a wait-and-see approach to whether they’ll back Kamala Harris in a potential run for governor. But Sen. Adam Schiff said he thinks she’d excel at the job.
“I think that is a decision that she will have to make, and I can appreciate her wanting some time to figure it out,” he told NOTUS. “But I think if she decided to do so, she’d be an outstanding governor.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is term-limited, and several high-profile Democrats have already signaled they want to run next year to replace him. Harris has yet to say whether she’d run — but there could be significant momentum behind her.
A majority — 57% — of likely primary voters in California would support Harris for governor, according to a recent Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics/The Hill poll. Other potential candidates polled far lower: Former Rep. Katie Porter was second with 9% of likely primary voters saying they’d back her.
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Democratic Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, California Democratic Party Vice Chair Betty Yee, and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have announced plans to run, as has the Republican Riverside County sheriff, Chad Bianco.
Schiff told NOTUS he would not run: “I have plenty of work to do here.”
Sen. Alex Padilla was less direct, only saying he would wait to see what Harris decided when it came to both supporting her potential bid and whether he would consider one.
“I will wait for her to make her decision, we’ll go from there,” he told NOTUS.
Harris, who has won state-wide races in California three times — once as a U.S. senator and twice as attorney general — is still a strong political figure in the state. She defeated President Donald Trump 58% to 38% in November, although she underperformed compared to former President Joe Biden in most counties.
A spokesperson for Harris directed NOTUS to the former vice president’s recent comments on a potential bid for governor.
“I have been home for two weeks and three days. My plans are to be in touch with my community, to be in touch with the leaders and figure out what I can do to support them,” Harris told reporters while touring communities affected by the Palisades fires in LA earlier this month.
“I am here and would be here regardless of the office I hold, because it is the right thing to do, which is to show up in your community and thank the folks who are on the ground,” she added.
Variety reported on Tuesday that Harris had signed with Creative Artist Agency, a California firm that will represent her on her post-White House endeavors. CAA previously represented Harris when she was a senator before she joined the Biden administration.
If Harris does run for governor, she could face off against a Trump loyalist. Richard Grenell, Trump’s envoy for special missions and former acting director of national intelligence, said he would consider running for governor if Harris was a candidate.
“I wouldn’t say no,” Grenell told reporters last week when asked if he would run for governor.
“If Kamala Harris runs for governor, I believe that she has such baggage and hundreds of millions of dollars in educating the voters of how terrible she is, that it’s a new day in California, and that the Republican actually has a shot,” Grenell said.
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Samuel Larreal is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and NewsWell, home of Times of San Diego, Santa Barbara News-Press and Stocktonia.
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