If it wasn’t already obvious, it’s becoming increasingly clear: Kamala Harris wants to run for president in 2028. The question for her should be: why? Undoubtedly, her public answer would be equal parts word salad and cackling laughter. The possibility of attaining the power and status associated with the highest office in the land, especially after she failed to secure it in 2024, is likely her biggest motivator.

The former vice president is likely well aware that she still polls favorably among Democrat voters. Indeed, aside from a couple of polls showing California Governor Gavin Newsom with the overall lead among hypothetical candidates in the presidential primary, Harris has remained the party’s frontrunner.

Reporting from Axios also notes that Harris recently reached out to New York City’s socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani, in what has been described as her effort to establish and repair relationships with the party’s surging radical Left, the Democratic Socialists of America.

Harris, who has always favored the progressive Left of the party, has sought to shore up her leftist bona fides by meeting with New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Chicago in April at a “Power Rising,” a black women’s empowerment conference. She has been courting pro-Palestinian activists, including a leader of the “Uncommitted Movement,” an organization that developed in opposition to the Biden administration’s policy regarding the war in Gaza. Harris also talked with James Zogby, a Democratic National Committee member who advocates for Palestinian rights. Furthermore, Axios reports, “Harris has also reached out to former aides and other Democrats to discuss China, artificial intelligence, Venezuela and other issues.”

Reading the tea leaves, Harris appears to have embraced the party’s radical animosity toward Israel, an antisemitic insurgency that appears to be spreading like a cancer on both the radical Left and the extremist Right.

Harris seems to have recognized that the growing polarization nationwide and radicalization of the Democrat Party mean that she must lean into this leftist radicalization in order to secure the party’s presidential nomination.

She released a book last year titled 107 Days, essentially defending and spinning a positive perspective on her failed 2024 campaign. She fought to release the party’s autopsy, and pushed her “No Bad Ideas Brainstorm.” She has been sidling up to a number of politically influential people and has remained a prominent voice criticizing President Donald Trump.

When many thought she might throw her hat into the California gubernatorial race, seeing her as a potential shoo-in in the deep-blue state and a possible stepping stone to a future presidential run, she obviously chose not to. Maybe after failing to win the presidency, the former veep saw the California governorship as too much of a step back, an admission of defeat, and that she was not capable of winning a national election.

Obviously, Harris will have competition, and given her abysmal 2020 presidential run, which she abandoned before the first ballots were cast, she’d better figure out how to better appeal to Democrat primary voters. Recent comments from DSA New York City co-Chair Gustavo Gordillo should serve as a warning. Gordillo expressed favorable views for AOC, saying he’d be “thrilled” if she ran for president in 2028. “I think that we will be trying to influence the next presidential primary,” Gordillo said. “And it’s still too soon to say how … to say who.”

Finally, from a 2028 general election standpoint, Harris, as the Democrat nominee, versus JD Vance, Marco Rubio, or even someone else on a list of impressive candidates, such as Glen Youngkin or Ron DeSantis, would have Republicans licking their chops.