Harris faces skepticism from some Democrats about possible 2nd run for White House

Former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Former vice president and failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris may not have the solid backing of her party if she decides to run for president again in 2028, according to multiple recent reports, and any path to the nomination will likely take her through a political rumble with fellow Californian Gavin Newsom.

Harris has said she's considering another White House bid, and has certainly been behaving like someone who's planning to run again. She published a memoir last September about her run for president in 2024, which ended with her defeat by Donald Trump.

And she's been making the rounds at various events and conferences where she's not been shy about criticizing Trump, has declared a desire to abolish the Electoral College, pack the Supreme Court and give Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico statehood, and, in at least one case, she put a man to sleep.

But despite the extremist rhetoric, signature word salads and cackling, some Democrats are expressing skepticism that Harris is the right candidate for the party to nominate in 2028. Some of these Democrats are voicing their concerns anonymously, while others are being more up front about their reservations. 

"I have not heard one person suggest it would be good for anything if she ran," an anonymous source, described as "an influential donor," told ABC News. "We are looking for someone who is fresh and not imposed on the voters. We understood we were stuck with the situation last time, but this is not the case going forward." 

Some who voted for Harris in 2024 have been outspoken in opposing her running again in 2028, with USA Today political columnist Sara Pequeño writing in a column published last month that she wouldn't back Harris in 2028 because she "would be a weak candidate against any of the Republicans" who are expected to run.

The "fresh" face Democrats may be looking for very well could be California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who's in the final year of his second term. And the nomination could likely come down to a showdown between Harris and Newsom, both significant figures in California politics. 

“They’ve been kind of like two cats, circling each other in an alley for years, politically speaking,” Garry South, a political strategist who worked for Newsom, told The Wall Street Journal. Newsom, although, might not be the most inspiring candidate either, according to former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who has been a political mentor to both Harris and Newsom. 

Brown told ABC News that Newsom would be the most "viable" of the two "because he would not be the most recent loser." Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

Harris, he suggested, could've benefited by running for California governor and winning. "I would have advised her to be elected governor, so that she would be in the same identical position, if not better than, for electability nationally than Newsom," Brown added. "If she was in the category of being, on January 8, 2027, the governor of California, the dialogue would be about her candidacy, not about anybody else's."

But she decided against running for governor, and now faces a likely drag-out fight with Newsom, according to The Wall Street Journal, for the nomination and mounting uncertainty from some Democrats. Asif Mahmood, a fundraising bundler who has backed Harris for 15 years told ABC News, "If it is Kamala and Newsom, the money will be divided, and I think Newsom might have a little edge on that because he's currently governor."