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On Thursday morning, former Vice President Kamala Harris announced that she was re-branding her online media presence — KamalaHQ — to simply “Headquarters.”
What is “Headquarters,” you ask? It’s “an online organizing project for next generation campaigning,” according to Harris. Or a “new Gen-Z led progressive content hub.”
What, um, does that mean exactly? I don’t really know — and I am not totally sure the Harris people do either. (If you want more info on “Headquarters,” read this from Kyle Tharp over at “Chaotic Era.”)
Here’s the only thing you really need to know though: Harris is working to turn her significant social media followings — 1 million followers on X, 5 million on TikTok — into a tool that can help organize young people in advance of the 2026 election.
She’s also branching this effort out to YouTube and, yes, Substack.
Why? Well, it is absolutely true that Democrats lost ground among young voters — especially young men — in 2024. Harris beat Donald Trump by 11 points among that youngest age cohort; Joe Biden beat Trump by 24 points among young voters in 2020. And Trump in 2024 actually beat Harris among young men 49%-48%.
That’s a major problem for a party that has — for the last several decades — dominated the youth vote.
So, on its face, Harris’ efforts to help re-make and re-organize Democratic party efforts with young people is aimed at helping the party perform up to its potential in the midterms.
But, we all know there’s more going on here. Harris has made no secret of her interest in running for president again in 2028. The fact that her memoir — documenting her time as the party’s presidential nominee — was a surprise best-seller only contributed to her belief that there is a constituency for her out there. (Harris is now setting off on the second leg of her book tour.) Plus, the polling on the 2028 field shows she is either on top of the field or running just behind fellow California Gavin Newsom.
So this latest move is yet more evidence that Harris is moving toward another bid in 2028. Whether that is a good thing for the Democratic party is an entirely different question.
I am not entirely sure of the answer. But I will say this: I think Harris’ best day in the 2028 race would be her first day.
I have previously documented how I think she is an underwhelming candidate. I also think that Democrats want to put the Biden years FAR behind them and, obviously, Harris would struggle to do that. She would have to find better answers to how she missed Biden’s decline in office — not to mention how she lost a winnable race against Trump.
In my most recent rankings of the 2028 Democratic field, I put Harris third most likely to be the nominee. But I have a hard time seeing her going any higher than that and, if I had to bet, I would think that at this time next year she will be lower in my rankings than she is today.
Regardless of what I think, Harris appears to be moving steadily toward another campaign. Buckle up.
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