8 hours ago
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Recently, Politico reported that Kamala Harris is speaking with her advisors about a possible presidential run in 2028.
News of a potential return to the campaign trail spawned a flood of reactions online, which led me to wonder about our own BuzzFeed Community's thoughts. So, I asked y'all what you think about Harris potentially running in 2028.
We received well over 600 replies. So, whether you agree with these takes or not, here's what the community said:
Some responses have been edited for length/clarity.
1. "I believe that if Kamala hadn’t been vice president to Biden, she would have an amazing chance at winning, but because she was attached to a president that did next to NOTHING for this country, I just don’t see her as being the political leader that can solve problems for this country."
"If Biden had been proactive, and she had been involved in that, I’d trust her more, but I’m appalled by how much she missed the glaring problems that many subcultures are facing when she, instead, ran her campaign, mostly, on abortion rights. So, I can’t begin to imagine a scenario where I would trust her to be the leader of this country. Oh, well. It is what it is, and this is just my perspective and opinion."
—sleepingrocket133
2. "I would love it to be Kamala. I think she would be a great candidate. However, this election has proven that America is still not ready for a woman president, especially one who is POC."
"Will they be in four years? I honestly don’t know. If we still have a democracy in four years, anyway."
—TudorGirl21
3. "SOMEBODY IS GONNA NEED TO CLEAN UP HIS MESS AND GIVE US OUR RIGHTS BACK!!! I ABSOLUTELY believe it should be her."
"Even in my tiny little Texas town, people are cutting off friends and family members for voting for Trump. I think this election will make a lot of people think really hard about their mistakes."
—anonymous
4. "We can only beat their white guy with one of our white guys. Sad, sad, sad, but true."
—Beetle Bop
"The Dems need to find the most mediocre white dude they can find and have him run. The US hates women, especially WOC."
—spiritedelf59
5. "She gave me the same calming feeling Obama did."
"That someone steady, knowledgeable, and capable is in charge. I’d love to see her as president someday. I don’t know if America is smart enough to vote her in."
—Meesh42
6. "I voted for her because she is extremely qualified, and Trump will leave the country in another state of chaos. She was ready to tackle high prices, help young families, is pro-choice, inclusive, and willing to expand the ACA, reduce drug costs, expand Medicare to cover care for elders, and help defray costs of caregivers, giving them a break."
"She recognized the importance of tackling climate change and caring for the environment. She is up against many challenges but takes them on. Voter rights, education, equal pay for women, and so much more, and last but not least, common sense gun control. Trump will always be nothing but a felon."
—radiantsundae62
7. "I disagree with her being qualified. She proved she doesn’t have what it takes. Going against Trump should have been a very easy win."
"Every criticism people had with the Biden administration, she basically said she would continue. She absolutely failed with the border. She ran a bad campaign of extreme liberalism that many people did not agree with. Her main selling point was, at least, she’s not Trump."
—NoUseForAUsername
8. "I am a registered Democrat, and I personally like Kamala, but the party needs to realize they can’t keep doing the same things and expecting different results."
"As much as I can’t stand the current Republican Party, they at least realize America wants things done differently and know how to connect to the people (even if it is gaslighting and lies) to get the vote."
—as12345
9. "I love her and am heartbroken that she lost. But she lost once; I'm terrified she'd lose again."
—born_with_no_bones
10. "Kamala is a bad candidate for president in 2024 and will be a bad candidate again in 2028 because of her ultra-liberal policy positions. Her ceiling is as a senator from California, where she can get elected every cycle without a primary and an electorate that votes Democrat every election."
"US electorate in the middle won’t vote for a deep-left candidate. This was evident from why she couldn’t get past the primaries in 2019–2020."
—heroicpear767
11. "I'm tired of Democrats and Republicans in office. It's time for a real change."
—Ladysingstheblues
12. "I don't want her to run again. She's what America needs but not what America deserves."
"There's no need to waste energy and money on ingrates who chose a twice-impeached convicted felon over the educated, experienced woman with no felonies. (As I'm typing this, it just can't be fucking legal that a twice impeached felon got to run and got elected. How fucking embarrassing for us.)"
—justchillman
13. "People were ready to believe that Kamala Harris was so unqualified to be president that it was laughable that she was even running, despite her being the literal vice president."
"She isn't going to gain more relevant experience in the next four years, so how will that perception change?"
—anonymous
14. "I’m an independent, and I wholeheartedly supported Harris in the presidential race. I would never vote for Trump, and if Harris runs again, I will not support her and will look hard at supporting her opponents in the primaries."
"She ran a terrible campaign and didn't pay attention to the polls or the people around her. She decided the race was about abortion; she already had all of the support she was going to get from that issue, and she ignored the border and economy issues completely."
—anonymous
15. "Forget it!! She is not in touch with the working class/middle class families and their priorities!!"
"She has too many VERY PROGRESSIVE policy positions that would move America in the wrong direction. She proved that the last four years!!"
—anonymous
16. "I like Kamala a lot, I really do. But I think it’s time for a fresh face in politics."
"Someone who is much younger and can better relate to the public. I think we just need someone new."
—emostar31
17. "She should stay OUT OF POLITICS. She's way too far to the left, and most of her endorsements came from the wealthy elite, i.e., Oprah, Beyoncé, and Taylor Swift."
"Neither she nor Dems care about the little people and would prefer to allow any and every person who wants to come to America to do so."
—anonymous
18. "Kamala was my first choice in 2020 and in 2024. I really believe she has everything it takes to run this country well, and if she could take everything she’s learned from her time as VP and her two big campaigns, she might be able to win in 2028."
"She needs to hit the ground running and spend the next four years meeting voters from ALL walks of life, truly introducing herself to the American people. She needs to show the skeptics the side of her that we can see: her authenticity, compassion, and wit.
Then, as a party, we need a whole new playbook for how we act during this next Trump term. We need to show people why prices are high (corporate greed, Trump tariffs) and what options we have to actually fix this. We need to educate people better; we have to get people to understand basic facts like 'Obamacare IS the Affordable Care Act.' We need to craft effective and compassionate strategies for dealing with Ukraine/Russia and Israel/Gaza. There is a path forward for the Democrat Party, and there are far worse figureheads to have than Kamala Harris."
—Buzzlebee
19. "Immediately no. Immediately no. I’ve seen what I needed to see."
"I voted for her and respect her as a person, but we need a whole new roster of Democrats at this point. If you can’t beat Trump with a BILLION DOLLAR war chest, America don’t want you boo."
—originaltree58
20. "I love her, I do, but we have seen that she doesn’t have the conviction or policies to stick it out in the ring. So much of the election just felt like, 'Well, at least I’m not the other guy!'"
"I want to hear more than 'at least I’m not that guy.' Yes, that’s enough reason when the guy is Trump, but it's not a remotely good campaign strategy."
—izzy22
21. "I would absolutely love if Kamala ran for president again! I think she should dip her toes first by running for governor of California in two years."
"Then we will see where we are. I'm pretty sure around that time, America will see how fucked over it has been by the incoming administration that they'll be begging for a democratic president."
—ShinyAndChrome
22. "I would be very happy if Kamala Harris were to run again in 2028. She is by far the most qualified candidate we have ever had in United States History."
"She was also the only candidate to have worked in every branch of government. I believe that Kamala Harris is the perfect person for the job. She is strong, capable, intelligent, overqualified, and empathetic. I’m so devastated at the outcome of the election, but I’m remaining hopeful that we will see a Madam President, and hopefully that will be Kamala Harris."
—anonymous
23. "Despite being one the most qualified candidates in our history, she was defeated by sexism and racism."
"Democrats will need a white, cisgender male candidate, with credible Christian credentials, military background, and mass appeal to move any votes to their side of the ballot."
—psychicbubble742
24. "Girl, no. This ain’t it. And I wish it was."
"I think she’d be great for the country. But Trump and MAGA have set us too far back in the sexism and racism departments, and it’s clear that besides that, people of this country aren’t ready for a female POC to be president. *sigh*"
—aurenm63637282
25. "I’m honestly so disappointed and discouraged by the majority of these comments. I do believe that America can have a woman president."
"Kamala was not the right one for the moment, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Part of the American dream is believing that amazing leadership can arise from unexpected places. Don’t count women out just because you think it’s a safe bet. What’s safer? A qualified woman, or an unqualified (ie-dangerous*) man? Dangerous because of the amount of power they wield without the wisdom, experience, or resources to make the responsible decisions required for the job 💁♀️."
—lolahaze
26. "I am a diehard Democrat who campaigned in my local area for Kamala. She was clearly the superior choice. Unfortunately, what I realized after the election is that the US population is afraid of a woman in charge. Especially a woman of color."
"We had lower voter turnout this time around when the race wasn't between two geriatric white men and people who say they only voted for Trump because he's a man, while not paying attention to his lack of clearly defined policies. While I wholeheartedly would love for her to run, the US is not ready for her. Democrats need to regain power to bring back what Trump will inevitably take away, and they won't gain the majority or public vote if a man is not in charge. It's sexist and awful, but I'm afraid it's the American truth."
—anonymous
27. "Personally, I hope that she does run again for president or for govern-ship of California."
"I think she is relatively young enough to have a bit more of a political career and has some positive things to share. (Though if she doesn’t, she has already made history as the first female VP.) Honestly, I think she was stuck between a rock and a hard place when it came to flushing out her own platform. She possibly wanted to pivot. But when your current boss is the president…"
—anonymous
28. "I would possibly vote for her again, depending on who else is on the ticket. My only thing is she did not stand up for herself. The reason why people voted for the egghead is because they didn't want another four years of Biden. She needed to distance herself from Biden, and she didn't."
"I heard the clown say many, many times that things were messed up because of Biden and Kamala. I only heard her once say that SHE was running, not Biden. She should have honestly come out and said that at every meeting, the points you are criticizing were decisions made by my boss, not me. Her stating that she didn't feel like Biden made mistakes and she would have made the same choices is what lost her the election.
She had the fight for women's health down. She did not have the fight for the economy. I did like Walz as her running mate. If he ran for president and I had to pick between Harris and Walz, I would probably pick him. He just feels more like the common person than Kamala."
—abourque
29. And finally, "Since Trump is no longer able to run in 2028, it is widely presumed that Vance will be the default nominee. I would love to see someone new come from the Democrat ranks to challenge the Republicans."
"How about someone that is a centrist candidate vs someone that is more about identity politics? That is now proven to not work. Move on and appeal to more of us. I am a registered independent and have been for a long time. I could care less about the policies that the current version of the Democrat party espouses."
—anonymous
English (US) ·