What are Kamala Harris's next steps?

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United States vice president Kamala Harris’ term is over now that .

Harris has said she won’t “go quietly into the night” after leaving office — but what might her next steps be?

No immediate opening while Trump in office

John Hart, a US politics and government expert from the Australian National University, said Harris will have to step away from politics for a few years.

“She will take a break from politics because she has been forced into that,” he told SBS News.

“There’s no immediate opening in politics for her and I wouldn’t think she will be likely to take a position in the private sector — her career has been focused strongly on public service.”

If she were to pursue a political role in the near term, , which is highly unlikely, UNSW honorary lecturer of US politics Mark Rolfe said.

“Harris won’t be made an ambassador while Trump is president; he wouldn’t be so magnanimous to a ‘loser’ opponent,” Rolfe said.

“Like any president, but more so given his egocentricity, he wants to reward supporters for their loyalty.”

Harris is a former California senator, so a return to her old role could be on the cards.

But the state’s current sitting senators, Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, have several years left of their terms. Padilla has been elected until 2029, and Schiff until 2031.

Adam Hannah, a lecturer in political science at the University of Queensland, said Harris would likely turn her attention to the next presidential election, rather than the Senate.

“Clearly, she has strong presidential ambitions (having previously run in 2020), so my guess is that she will prefer to build up to another run in 2028,” Hannah said.

Will Kamala Harris run again in 2028?

If Harris wants to run again in 2028, she would be a high-profile candidate in what Hannah describes as a “very open” contest, especially since Donald Trump would be ineligible for a third term as president.

“Neither party will have an incumbent on the ticket, so the field will likely be very open,” Hannah said.

“However, it is worth noting that Harris’ campaign in 2020 was a total failure … she withdrew well before the first primary.

“She will be better positioned in 2028 due to her presidential run, but that doesn’t mean she is certain to be nominated. I would anticipate that many Democratic senators and governors in particular will be lining up for the nomination.”

To win the Democratic nomination, a presidential candidate needs to receive support from a majority of the pledged delegates on the first ballot.

After Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race in July .

No guarantee she would be nominated by the Democrats

As second in command, Harris was considered the natural successor to Biden in 2024, but Hart said winning the nomination again could prove tricky.

“The Democratic Party hasn’t been kind to former presidential candidates who lost. They rarely get a second go. Not since Adlai Stevenson in 1956 has a losing Democratic presidential candidate been renominated to run for president,” he said.

“This pattern doesn’t look too good for Kamala Harris to get a second chance in 2028.”

Another issue for Harris is the legacy left by Joe Biden.

During her 2024 campaign, she received criticism for defending Biden’s campaign despite after a disastrous first debate against Donald Trump.

Rolfe said that the democratic party might also want to step away from a female candidate.

“Against Harris in this regard is her association with the Biden administration and with ,” he said.

“Democrats might want a fresh face unburdened by those two factors.

“That depends on how the next four years go for Trump and the Republicans. And if sections of the public change their minds about those two things.”

Several experts SBS spoke to suggested that, should Harris decide to avoid another presidential run, she may focus on a position in her home state of California and run to be its governor in 2026.

Governor of California

Hannah said running for governor of California would be a “plausible and attractive” option for Harris.

In the US, governors oversee their state’s budget and official communications with the federal government.

In California, they are also commander-in-chief of its militia, a body that assists in times of natural disasters and supports law enforcement agencies.

“Current governor Gavin Newsom is in his second four-year term, so cannot run again in 2026. If she was to run, the governorship would be hers to lose,” Hannah said.

“Harris was previously elected there as state attorney-general and senator. She also won California by a bigger margin than the Democratic Senate candidate did in 2024, indicating her personal popularity is strong there.”

A man in a blue suit stands behind a podium addressing a crowd

California governor Gavin Newsom will be stepping down in 2026 as he will have reached his gubernatorial term limit. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli/AP

But Hart said becoming governor of California would still have its challenges.

“If Kamala Harris chose to contest it, she would (a) upset a number of other leading California Democrats who have already indicated their interest in running and (b) she would, in effect, be ruling herself out of the 2028 presidential nomination contest,” he said.

Regardless of what Harris decides to do next, Rolfe said the former vice president will remain an influential player in US politics.

“She won’t disappear entirely from Democrat politics. There is so much money and so many networks in the vast nature of American politics and she raised a lot of money last year,” he said.

“She can find a place in the Democrat firmament as a king or queen-maker, rather than as queen, a person of influence on the left.”