Republicans Should Welcome Her Back Into the Ring

Kelly Sadler | July 8, 2025

(The Washington Times) — “This Fourth of July, I am taking a moment to reflect. Things are hard right now. They are probably going to get worse before they get better. But I love our country — and when you love something, you fight for it. Together, we will continue to fight for the ideals of our nation,” former Vice President Kamala Harris posted on X on July 4, complete with a picture of her at the White House watching the fireworks with her husband, former President Joe Biden and former first lady Jill Biden conveniently cropped out.

Aside from voicing doom and gloom on a national day of celebration, Ms. Harris’ post may have hinted at her future ambitions: a political comeback.

Last week, a poll released by the University of California, Irvine, noted that 41% of survey respondents chose Ms. Harris to be the next governor of California, compared to 29% who opted for an unnamed Republican candidate. Ms. Harris has said she will decide by the end of the summer whether she will run. Reports indicate she’s using her July vacation to decide.

“The path to governor seems well-paved for Vice President Harris if she decides to run,” said Jon Gould, dean of UCI’s School of Social Ecology, in a statement. “Although she lacks majority support at the moment, people know her better than the other candidates and generally view her favorably.”

Republicans should be rejoicing.

This is a woman whose aides were so paranoid about her navigating social situations that they held a “mock soiree” ahead of a dinner party in the spring of 2022, according to “Original Sin,” co-authors Alex Thompson and Jake Tapper. They noted it was a literal dry run — no wine or alcohol was served. There was no press, just her staff pretending to be guests.

“She often shied away from politically tough assignments when Biden had accepted such assignments as vice president,” the authors wrote. “She even turned down seemingly simple asks, such as headlining DC’s Gridiron Club dinner.”

Before the “mock soiree,” Ms. Harris and her team were ridiculed for releasing a highly choreographed video about space exploration, complete with child actors who had to audition for their roles and had lines assigned to them.

Ms. Harris was selected to lead the National Space Council in 2021, a cabinet-level position that Messrs. Thompson and Tapper describe as “politically safe ground” that she still found “difficult” to manage, though her incompetent staffers reportedly didn’t help her as they “internally mixed up astrology and astronomy.”

Not that Ms. Harris, herself, had a reputation for reading their reports or doing the legwork needed to prepare for important events and interviews.

“Staffers who worked for Harris before she was vice president said one consistent problem was that Harris would refuse to wade into briefing materials prepared by staff members, then berate employees when she appeared unprepared,” the Washington Post reported in December 2021.

One former staffer told the paper, “It’s clear that you’re not working with somebody who is willing to do the prep and the work. With Kamala, you have to put up with a constant amount of soul-destroying criticism and also her own lack of confidence. So you’re constantly sort of propping up a bully, and it’s not really clear why.”

The Post used this bullying as the explanation for why Ms. Harris’ team experienced a year-end staff exodus that included her top spokespeople.

At that point, Ms. Harris had already flubbed a number of high-profile interviews, including one with NBC’s Lester Holt, who questioned why, as “border czar,” she hadn’t made it down to the southern border.

“And I haven’t been to Europe,” Ms. Harris snapped back at him and then cackled. “And I mean, I don’t understand the point that you’re making.”

After Mr. Biden dropped out of the presidential contest and Ms. Harris became the top of the ticket last August, her strategy was to avoid the media altogether. By Sept. 12, she had only done one national television interview since being named the Democratic nominee, a joint appearance on CNN with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

When she finally sat down with CBS’ “60 Minutes” in October 2024, the news organization prerecorded it and deceptively edited her responses to make her appear more coherent.

Paramount Global, CBS’ parent company, agreed to pay $16 million to President Trump’s future presidential library this month, after Mr. Trump sued the organization for intentionally trying to mislead the public.

Yet Ms. Harris’ entire political career has been nothing but smoke and mirrors. She vigorously defended Mr. Biden’s mental acuity in office and has maintained that stance, saying he was “capable in every way,” and that she was “honest with the American people.”

Still, some Democratic donors aren’t buying it — and are lukewarm on her potential bid for California governor after she lost the presidency to Mr. Trump in November and has maintained a low public profile ever since.

One California Democrat who contributed six figures to Ms. Harris’ presidential bid told Politico last month that a Harris comeback would only serve as a reminder of how “traumatizing” the November election was.

“Kamala just reminds you we are in this complete s—- storm. With Biden, we got bamboozled … I think she did the best she could in that situation, but obviously she knew about the cognitive decline too,” the donor told Politico. “I’ve written so many checks because I knew the Trump administration would be horrible, but we’re living in a nightmare because of the Democrats. I’m furious at them, truly.”

Donors “realize it’s just going to bring up the whole pathetic last presidential, which no one wants to hear about again. And then it’s the whole ‘Did you know Joe Biden?’ thing,” another Southern California fundraiser told Politico of her potential governor bid. “She still would probably lead, but honestly, no one is incredibly pumped.”

No one but Republicans, that is.