Big Donors Are Turning Their Backs On Kamala Harris
Support for a potential 2028 presidential run by former Vice President Kamala Harris appears to be weakening inside major Democratic donor circles, according to a new report that paints a far less enthusiastic picture than the public polling numbers suggest.
The Los Angeles Times reported that several high-dollar Democratic donors, fundraisers, and longtime party strategists are already signaling hesitation — and in some cases outright opposition — to another Harris presidential campaign after Democrats’ bruising 2024 defeat.
One donor who reportedly contributed more than $1 million to Harris’s 2024 effort did not mince words.
“I think it is too early to pick a favorite in the 2028 race, but Kamala Harris will not be my candidate,” the donor told the paper anonymously. “I don’t think she would appeal to a swing voter, and we need swing voters to win.”
That concern appears to be spreading among Democratic insiders still trying to process the fallout from 2024, when Harris became the party’s nominee after President Joe Biden exited the race following his widely criticized debate performance against Donald Trump. Harris had just 107 days to mount a national campaign before Trump ultimately won both the Electoral College and the popular vote while sweeping all seven battleground states.
Now, many inside the party seem eager to move on.
“I don’t think it’s a helpful narrative [for 2028] to start with the 2024 hangover,” one anonymous Harris fundraiser said. “There is an enormous appetite for new blood — something fresh, something that really represents the future, not the past.”
The comments reflect growing tension inside Democratic circles over whether Harris represents continuity or political baggage after the party’s loss.
Harris herself has kept the door open. After deciding against a run for governor of California, she hinted publicly that she “might” pursue another White House campaign. But some of her former allies appear unconvinced that Democratic voters — especially independents and swing-state moderates — would rally behind her a second time.
“She’s run, she’s lost,” longtime South Carolina Democratic strategist Dick Harpootlian told the Times. “So the question’s going to be, is there somebody that gives Democratic voters more of a sense that they could win? That’s what all of us are looking for. We want to win in ‘28.”
South Carolina remains a particularly important political indicator because of its outsized influence in Democratic presidential primaries. The state’s electorate is viewed by party leaders as more representative of the national Democratic coalition than states like Iowa or New Hampshire, and candidates who perform well there often gain critical momentum.
Even Representative James Clyburn — one of the Democratic Party’s most influential power brokers and a central figure in reviving Biden’s 2020 campaign — appeared noticeably cautious when asked about Harris’s future.
“I’m not thinking about 2028, and if she were to call me I wouldn’t talk to her about it,” Clyburn said.
That response immediately fueled speculation that some major Democratic figures may already be looking elsewhere for the party’s next standard-bearer.
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s name surfaced repeatedly in the report as donors and strategists discussed possible alternatives. Reed Hastings, the Netflix co-founder who reportedly contributed $1 million to the pro-Harris super PAC Future Forward, openly praised Newsom as someone capable of bridging the party’s ideological divides.
“Gavin is the candidate who can motivate both the left and the center,” Hastings said.
According to the report, several donors either declined to discuss Harris publicly, ignored requests for comment entirely, or privately expressed interest in finding a candidate unconnected to the party’s 2024 defeat.
“A lot of people love her and also don’t think that she is the answer for 2028,” one fundraiser admitted.
But as the party quietly begins positioning for 2028, the divide between donor confidence and voter familiarity may become one of the defining political battles inside Democratic circles over the next two years.