Liberal Donors Trash Kamala: ‘Just Reminds You We Are in This Complete S*** Storm’

Former Vice President Kamala Harris has faced significant resistance from California Democratic donors in recent weeks as she ramped up outreach for a potential gubernatorial run, with some major contributors still bitter about her role in what one called the “complete s*** storm” of her 2024 presidential run.

Harris has been testing the waters with trusted supporters as she considers a gubernatorial run, but enthusiasm has noticeably waned among the Democratic donor class, according to a POLITICO report.

One California Democrat who contributed six figures to Harris’s presidential campaign bluntly stated that her candidacy would only remind voters of the “traumatizing” 2024 election when Donald Trump regained power.

“Kamala just reminds you we are in this complete s*** storm. With Biden, we got bamboozled … I think she did the best she could in that situation, but obviously she knew about the cognitive decline too,” the unidentified donor reportedly said. “I’ve written so many checks because I knew the Trump administration would be horrible, but we’re living in a nightmare because of the Democrats. I’m furious at them, truly.”

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POLITICO reports that many GOP candidates, eager to face Harris given her damaged reputation, would consider throwing their hat in the ring should the former vice president enter the race.

Democratic fundraisers note that Harris has yet to address accusations from former Los Angeles mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa, who alleges both she and Biden’s Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, another Democrat who has already entered the gubernatorial race, were “complicit in a cover-up” regarding Biden’s condition.

“Voters deserve to know the truth, what did Kamala Harris and Xavier Becerra know, when did they know it, and most importantly, why didn’t either of them speak out?” Villaraigosa said in a statement. “This cover up directly led to a second Donald Trump term — and as a result, all Californians are paying the price.”

Harris has set a late-summer deadline for her decision. She is exploring multiple options beyond the governor’s race, including a potential 2028 presidential run or establishing “a philanthropic venture” outside of elected office, per POLITICO.

“It’s very fair to say there’s not an overwhelming clamor” for a Harris gubernatorial bid, said Scott Drexel, a Bay Area-based donor adviser. “It’s very hard for there to be one if it’s not 100 percent clear if she really wants to do it.”

“She’s going to have to work for the nomination,” Drexel said, “Every day that passes, there’s less of a sense of inevitability about her candidacy.”

Harris has made some quiet outreach, including multiple private meetings in the Bay Area during her visit to headline a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in early June.

These intimate gatherings in supporters’ homes were officially billed as social events but carried “an unmistakable subtext” regarding her political future, POLITICO reported.

“The donors that are here, that have been with her know that this is her home state. She can win … but they also don’t want her to find herself in a spot of vulnerability, particularly if someone like a Rick Caruso comes into the race,” said Todd Hawkins, a Harris bundler dating back to her tenure as California attorney general.

Caruso, a billionaire developer and former Los Angeles mayoral candidate, has been mentioned as a potential centrist challenger who could complicate Harris’s path to the nomination. Caruso is a former Republican who changed his party registration several times before running as a Democrat in the 2022 L.A. mayoral race, when he lost to Karen Bass. 

One Southern California fundraiser, speaking anonymously, said donors “realize it’s just going to bring up the whole pathetic last presidential, which no one wants to hear about again. And then it’s the whole ‘Did you know Joe Biden?’ thing. She still would probably lead, but honestly, no one is incredibly pumped.”