CHRIS CRUCIAL: WWKHD (What Will Kamala Harris Do?) 🤷
PLUS: New Mexico Democrats avoid a clash of the titans 🔱
This nightly newsletter is for paid subscribers only. Why subscribe? Read my mission statement! Become a paid subscriber today for just $6 a month or $60 for the year. That gives you access to not just this newsletter but ALL of my content. A subscription also comes with lots of other perks — including a 15-minute, one-on-one Zoom with me! 📞
1. The future of Kamala 🔮
Kamala Harris isn’t done with politics.
While much about her next steps are fuzzy, it seems very clear — to me at least — that Harris is unlikely to simply disappear following her 2024 loss to Donald Trump.
The latest proof of her ongoing interest in elected life? Politico reported this week that Harris has formed a limited liability corporation designed to allow her to fund her future efforts.
Here’s the key bit:
The former vice president established an LLC called Pioneer49 last month in her home state of California, according to her presidential campaign’s final financial disclosure that was filed last week and confirmed by a person familiar with the organization’s plans.
The disclosure form described the organization as an “entity to assist the former vice president” and is likely to help fuel Harris’ next political move.
The name of the group is a nod to Harris’ Secret Service codename and the fact that she was the 49th vice president of the United States.
There’s also this — from a terrific New York magazine profile of Harris:
On the final Friday of her vice-presidency, Kamala Harris partook in one last ritual. She looked disbelievingly as she walked into her ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, across the street from the White House, and saw a large group of her former staffers arrayed in front of her desk. She was there to sign its drawer, just as more than a dozen of her predecessors had done.
She peered out with a tight smile as she scanned the room and thanked the team for its years of labor. Harris promised not to recount “the laundry list of our accomplishments. We know what they are.” But she insisted, suddenly laughing, that the work was not done: “You all know me, because we have spent long hours, long days and months and years together. It is not my nature to go quietly into the night. So don’t worry about that.”
What’s become clear in the months since Harris’ election loss is: a) she and her team believe Joe Biden gave them a losing hand b) she and her team believe Biden’s unwillingness to disappear into the White House for the general election campaign hamstrung her campaign and c) she still has the political bug.
As I noted earlier this week, the fact that Harris and her aides are expressing annoyance at Biden’s repeated(and false) assertion that he would have beaten Trump if he remained in the race speaks to the fact that she believe that she possesses a viable political future that must be protected.
Is she right?
That, I think, remains to be seen.
Let me explain.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to So What to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.