Kamala Weighing CA Governor Run: One Unexpected Group Especially Delighted

Kamala Harris is reportedly mulling entering the race for governor of California, and the idea is delighting an unexpected group: Republicans.

California has not elected a Republican governor since 2007, but many Republicans see Harris as a potentially vulnerable candidate should Democrats choose her. “Sources familiar with Harris’ thinking say she’s weighing a gubernatorial bid in her home state, a third run for the presidency or not seeking elected office,” CBS News reported earlier this month.

“I’d jump for joy,” Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco declared, per the Daily Mail. “She’s the perfect example of everything Californians are sick of – soft on crime, blind to our problems, and more focused on DC than Main Street. … She won two statewide elections, and she won in California when she was running for president. But those votes didn’t go to Kamala Harris. Those votes went against Donald Trump.”

“I think it could attract some donors from around the country who might be interested in taking another pound of flesh,” Republican political consultant Dave Gilliard stated, according to POLITICO. “Money is the biggest obstacle other than the registration because the donor world doesn’t think a Republican can be elected governor anymore.”

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“She’s got the résumé – but so do a lot of people who’ve lost,” Republican consultant Kevin Madden asserted. “What she doesn’t have is momentum.”

“I sense that this is the best shot for someone to be elected statewide in California who’s not a Democrat for at least 20 years, and I think the evident reason for that is the failure of one-party rule,” conservative pundit Steve Hilton said. “The candidate who’s going to win in 2026, regardless of party label, is the change candidate. Kamala Harris is the one who least represents change.”

“She has a chance to be embarrassed even if she wins,” said GOP consultant Kevin Spillane, who managed the campaign of GOP California attorney general candidate Steve Cooley, who narrowly lost to Harris in 2010. “It could be a pyrrhic victory.”

“California remains a staunchly Democratic state in which 59 percent of voters chose Harris over Trump in 2024,” POLITICO noted. “But Harris underperformed former President Joe Biden’s 2020 results across the state as Trump flipped purple counties and made inroads in blue areas.”