U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris marked Thanksgiving Day by assisting in the preparation of vegetables at DC Central Kitchen (DCCK) in Washington, U.S., on November 28, 2024. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

For months, U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris had been intensely focused on a potentially career-defining, history-making objective—becoming the first woman to hold the keys to the White House. However, her defeat to Donald Trump in the November election dashed her hopes of entering the pantheon of U.S. presidents, leaving the nation to ponder her next steps after her meteoric rise came to an abrupt end.

Following a few days of reflection in Hawaii after the disappointment of November 5, the 60-year-old former prosecutor has started to reveal her future plans. "I am staying in the fight," she announced during a call with party donors, though she did not elaborate on her strategy.

Washington is rife with speculation about Harris's next move, with some analysts predicting she might run for governor of her home state, California, when Gavin Newsom's term ends in 2026. In the U.S., governorships are prestigious positions, given that many states are as large as countries—California's economy ranks as the world's fifth largest—and their leaders function almost as quasi-presidents.

A term or two as governor of California—a role that has historically been held only by white men—would be a fitting capstone to Harris's groundbreaking career, during which she has shattered numerous glass ceilings. She maintains strong ties with local officials and already has much of the necessary infrastructure in place, having left the California attorney general's office just seven years ago to become a U.S. senator.

However, leading the nation's most populous state would also provide Harris with "an enormous platform" to re-establish herself as a political powerhouse on the national stage, according to political scientist Julian Zelizer of Princeton University. If Harris were to use the governorship as a springboard back to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, she would be following a well-trodden path. Sixteen presidents have previously served as governors before entering the White House, including Republican Ronald Reagan, who governed California in the late 1960s and early 70s.

Yet, Democrats faced a harsh reality after Harris lost every swing state and Trump made gains with almost every segment of the electorate—making her far from an automatic choice to lead her party in the next election. "The challenge is that once you lose, and are part of a loss this big, many in the party lose faith that you can win again in a big matchup," Zelizer told AFP.

A two-year tenure as California governor would be considered unusually short, and some analysts believe that if Harris intends to run in the Golden State, she would have to postpone her presidential ambitions until at least 2032. Gavin Newsom, who has been California's governor since 2019, has been identified as a potential Harris rival in four years, along with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Another potential path for Harris could be to remain in politics without necessarily holding office. Democrat Bill Clinton's vice-president, Al Gore, serves as a model, having lost to George W. Bush but continuing in public life as an environmental advocate. In 2006, Gore's documentary film "An Inconvenient Truth" played a significant role in raising awareness about the rapid pace of global warming. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 and is now training climate ambassadors worldwide.

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