After her bruising election loss, what next?

Exactly two months after losing the election to Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris has led the way in announcing her defeat.

As President of the Senate, on Monday he will stand on the floor of the Speaker of the House to preside over the counting of Electoral College votes, confirming the victory of his race two weeks before he returns to the White House.

The situation is painful and difficult for a man who has accused his opponent of threatening American democracy, but Harris’ supporters insist he will carry out his constitutional duties with seriousness and grace.

This is not the first time that a loser has led one part of Congress to count the presidential nominees – Al Gore endured the humiliation in 2001 and Richard Nixon in 1961.

But it’s the right move in an improbable election in which Harris was promoted from the country’s former president to a Democrat – whose campaign gave hope to his party before a heavy loss exposed internal flaws.

Harris and his team are now discussing what to do next, and whether that includes another run for the White House in 2028 or seeking the governor’s office in his home state of California.

While the recent votes of the Democrats who failed in the elections – Al Gore, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton – have decided not to seek the presidency, supporters, allies and donors argue that the basis of support for Harris was found in his failure and the unusual events of his regular campaign. it proves that he still has a chance to get the Oval Office.

They also point to the political cycle of Donald Trump – the book of the former and future president will win in 2016 and 2024, although he lost in 2020.

But while most Democrats don’t blame Harris for Trump’s victory, some — frustrated by the heavy losses that have cast doubt on the party — are more skeptical of giving him another shot at the White House. Many of the Democratic incumbents who are behind the vice president in 2024 but have their own ambitions are seen by some experts as the new candidates who have a good chance of winning.

Harris himself says he is in no rush to make a decision, telling advisors and assistants that he has the opportunity to handle all that awaits him after Opening Day on January 20th.

He is reviewing the past few months, which saw him launch a new campaign for the White House, a fellow vet, lead a party convention and destroy the country in just 107 days. And aides suggest that he will remain the vice president of the US, for another two weeks.

“He’s got a decision to make and you can’t make it while you’re on the treadmill. It might be less — but he’s on the show until January 20,” said Donna Brazile, a close friend of Harris who advised the campaign.

“You can’t put anybody in a box. We didn’t put Al Gore in a box and it was clear that the country was very divided after the 2000 election,” said Brazile, who ran Gore’s campaign against George W Bush and pointed out that. his second life as a promoter of nature. “All options are on the table because there is a desire for change and I believe he can represent that change in the future.”

But the vexing question that drives the 2028 run-off is whether the 60-year-old can separate himself from Joe Biden — something he failed to do in the election.

Allies in the party say that Biden’s decision to seek re-election despite concerns about his age means that since he is months away from the race, he will not be able to represent him.

Although Trump swept all seven battleground states and is the first Republican in 20 years to win the popular vote, his victory was narrow as Harris still received 75 million votes, which his supporters argue cannot be ignored as the winner at this point. The Democratic Party is rebuilding for the next four years.

On the other hand, those close to Biden remain convinced that he could have defeated Trump again, even though polls show that he bled away from the main Democratic voting blocs.

He said Harris fell short as the president underperformed in 2020, not doing well with key Democratic groups such as black and Latino voters. Critics continue to bring up his 2019 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, which he exited less than a year later.

“People forget that there would have been a real primary school.” [in 2024]he would not have been elected. Everyone knows,” said a former Biden adviser.

The adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue, praised Harris for revitalizing the Democratic base and supporting key races, but said Trump’s campaign had sidelined him on campaign issues including the economy and the border.

Members of Trump’s team, however, including a top pollster, have acknowledged that Harris performed more strongly as a candidate than Biden on other issues such as the economy among voters.

Yet there’s no escaping that any 2028 Democratic race will be a tough fight, with rising stars like Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and California Governor Gavin Newsom already testing presidential runs.

Some Democrats say Harris could start at the front of the pack, with national name recognition, a long-standing mailing list and a deep pool of volunteers.

“Which government party would not want him to come and help them organize the 2026 mid-term elections?” Brazile said. “He’s going to have a lot of opportunities to not only rebuild, but to strengthen the coalition that came together to support him in 2024.”

Others suggested that he might leave the political arena, founding a foundation or organizing a political organization for his alma mater, Howard University, the black college in Washington where he held his night party.

A former attorney general may also be a candidate for secretary of state or attorney general in a future Democratic administration. And he has to decide if he wants to write another book.

For all his decisions, Harris told supporters, he wanted to be visible and seen as a party leader. Another adviser said that he could exist outside of world politics, take an international role in an issue that is important to him, but this is very difficult without a big platform like the vice president.

In the waning days of the Biden-Harris administration, he plans to embark on a multi-state world tour, according to a source familiar with the plans, suggesting he wants to maintain a global presence and create a legacy beyond Biden’s. number two.

For Harris and his team, the weeks since the election have been humbling, a mix of sadness and determination. Several aides described the three-month run that began when Biden resigned as if he started with a “hole-digging” campaign and ended with his nominees more popular than when they started, even if they didn’t win.

“There’s a sense of peace in knowing that because of the hand we’ve played, we’ve gone through the motions,” said an assistant director.

After the election, Harris and her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, spent a week in Hawaii with a small group of aides to relax and discuss her future.

At a holiday party at her home before Christmas, Harris recounted the night of the election and how she spoke with her family as the results came to light.

“We’re not having a pity party!” he told the crowd what he had done that night.

Advisers and allies say they are processing what happened, and they want to wait and see how the new administration will be in January before taking any position, not to stop seeking to be the face of the so-called “resistance” to Trump.

Democrats have found the backlash that began among liberals after his 2016 victory is unprecedented in today’s politics, while Republicans have proven that his message and style appeal to many Americans.

They have adopted a coordinated approach to combating the incoming President. As several Democrats say: “What denial?”

Although she has not been well known since her death, Harris gave a glimpse of her thoughts at a student event at Prince George’s Community College in Maryland in December.

“Civil rights organizations, women’s rights, workers’ rights, the United States of America itself, would not exist if people had abandoned their cause after a trial, or a war, or an election had not gone that way,” he said.

“We have to stay in this fight,” he added, a refrain he’s repeated since winning the Senate in 2016. “Every one of us.”

What that means is not clear. For some donors and supporters, staying “at war” could mean a run for governor of California in 2026, when the no-nonsense Gavin Newsom will step down and pursue his bid for the White House. The job, which heads the world’s fifth-largest economy, will also put Harris in direct conflict with Trump, who has regularly lambasted the government for its left-leaning policies.

But controlling a large country is not a small thing, and it can affect the presidential election, because he will be sworn in when he has to start a national campaign.

Those who spoke to Harris said he had not yet decided on the gubernatorial race, which some allies described as a “stone capstone” in his career.

He has won public office three times as California attorney general and later as a US senator. But a gubernatorial victory will give her another historic honor – becoming the country’s first black female governor.

However, allies agree that it would be difficult to make the transition from being inside a 20-car truck to sitting at the table from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the governor’s house.

Private companies are another option.

“For women who are in certain positions, when they fail in the elections, sometimes the options are not available to them compared to men, who find a cheap place in a law firm or insurance business, and it gives them a place to hit. , make money and then make a decision,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

“I don’t think this will be a problem for Kamala Harris. I think doors will open for her if she wants to open them.”

But for Harris, who has been in elected office for two decades, and served as a prosecutor before that, life as a governor may be a more appropriate path.

“When you have one client—the people—for your entire career,” said one former consultant, “where do you go from here?”