Voters deserve strong candidates. Of course Kamala Harris should run for governor | Opinion
Kamala Harris is not a perfect candidate. No one is.
But her resume is unmatched by any of the dozen or so serious candidates who have announced their intention to run in the June 2, 2026, primary election for California governor.
Harris has every right to stand among them. She is the first woman ever elected vice president. She’s served as a California senator and attorney general. If that doesn’t qualify someone to run for governor, what does?
You can’t say Harris hasn’t been tested; she pulled together an inspiring presidential campaign in just 107 days. Though she ultimately lost to Trump, let’s be serious. Could any Democrat have defeated Trump under those circumstances?
Yet on top of that loss, now she’s being criticized for considering a run for governor: Some say she’s taking too long to decide. She’s making it tough on the other candidates. She’s spending too much time out of the public eye when she should be leading the chorus against Trump — a criticism that predated her speech last week, in which she condemned Trump’s “wholesale abandonment” of the nation’s deals and urged Americans to keep up the fight against his “narrow, self-serving” agenda.
Her critics are lining up to urge Harris not to run.
They can be divided into a few camps: Those who say she doesn’t really want it, implying that she would be a half-hearted governor at best. Those who say she’s too “old guard” — meaning it’s time for a change. And those who just flat-out disagree with her politics.
Fortunately, they are not the deciders. California voters are the ones who determine who advances to the general election. Not gatekeepers who want to pass judgment on who should or should not be on the ballot.
That’s the beauty of a primary election.
What the polls say
It’s been a foregone conclusion that if Harris runs, she will win — such is the power of name recognition. Is it any wonder, then, that her critics don’t want her in the race?
Opinion polls indeed have Harris ahead by a wide margin. In the most recent — Emerson College’s April poll — she led with 31%, followed by former Congresswoman Katie Porter, a Democrat, with 8%, and Republican Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County, with 4%.
But the biggest chunk of voters — 39% — were undecided. Perhaps even more telling, voters were evenly split, 50-50, on whether they thought Harris should run for governor.
It looks like she will have an advantage, but it will be no slam-dunk. So, can we please dial back the cynicism?
It is not a foregone conclusion that voters will automatically gravitate to the most familiar face, especially when there are such deep divisions even among Democrats.
If not Harris, then who?
The candidate who succeeds Gov. Gavin Newsom will face enormous challenges: a faltering economy made even more unpredictable by tariffs, the climate crisis, homelessness, immigration, natural disasters that are practically a given in California, plus contending with a president who attempts to override state laws at practically every turn.
It’s a huge responsibility, and those who oppose a Harris candidacy obviously do not believe she is up to the task. Yet they aren’t pointing to anyone else who would be better suited.
That’s not reassuring. Sure, it’s early days, but before you dismiss a leading contender, shouldn’t you determine whether there is someone superior or at least equal waiting in the wings?
This is not a dig at the current candidates.
There are some strong contenders, including Porter, former state Attorney General Xavier Becerra, state superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and Toni Atkins, former state Senate president pro tem, among others.
But it’s awfully soon to judge. Would Porter be a better governor than Harris? How about Becerra or Thurmond? Or someone further down the list who may manage to break out of the pack?
That’s what the coming months will be about — comparing and contrasting the experiences, the views and the visions of each candidate.
At this stage, we aren’t electing a governor. We are narrowing the field.
No matter how you feel about Kamala Harris — love, hate or indifference — that field will be stronger if her name is on the primary ballot.
This column was updated to correct the date of the California primary election. It is June 2, 2026.
This story was originally published May 6, 2025 at 10:07 AM with the headline "Voters deserve strong candidates. Of course Kamala Harris should run for governor | Opinion."
