Kamala Harris launches into the 2026 midterms as her 2028 decision looms

Kamala Harris is diving into the midterms, campaigning with Democrats like Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan

As Kamala Harris mulls whether to run for president again, she's throwing herself into the midterms by campaigning with fellow Democrats, starting with a Tuesday trip to Michigan on behalf of Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed .

It’s an especially notable destination for the former vice president. Michigan was one of seven battlegrounds she lost to Donald Trump two years ago, and it's now one of six states that will start Democrats' next presidential nominating process. Harris has additional rallies scheduled in Nevada and Georgia, two other key places on the political map.

Her campaigning could serve to solidify or undermine her status as a potential Democratic front-runner . Although she's one of the nation's best-known politicians and a barrier-breaking figure, there are others eager to turn the page after she failed to defeat Trump when she replaced President Joe Biden on the top of the ticket.

“I think she’s run her course,” said Barry Goodman, a Democratic National Committee member from Michigan who raised money for Biden and then Harris. “I just don’t think her running again would be the right thing for America moving forward.”

Some Democratic candidates, especially in places Trump won handily, have curtly dismissed any possibility of campaigning with Harris . “No thanks,” Iowa gubernatorial nominee Rob Sand told Politico. “Let’s move on. We need some new leadership.”

But plenty of Democrats, including some influential Black women who helped convince Biden to select Harris as his running mate in 2020, said she has more than earned the space to consider her options without being rushed or pilloried. Underscoring her unique position, California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently told CNN that he would not seek the nomination if Harris does.

“Kamala isn’t under any deadline to run for anything,” said Donna Brazile, a former Democratic National Committee chair who managed Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000. She called it a “waste of time” to relitigate Harris’s truncated 2024 campaign and said any White House hopefuls “should follow Kamala’s lead and get out there" by trying to help midterm candidates.

Harris has not announced any upcoming trips to South Carolina, where Democrats will hold their first primary . Antjuan Seawright, a political consultant in the state, said she could make a strong case for herself but another campaign would need to look and sound different.

“She’s going to have to admit that she was wrong about some things,” he said.

Harris has painful political history in Michigan. During the 2024 campaign, the state's prominent Arab American communities were outraged over Biden's support for Israel's military operations in Gaza, and they were disappointed when Harris did not break with him after she became the party's nominee.

El-Sayed, on the other hand, is an outspoken critic of Israel who has described the war as a genocide against Palestinians, an accusation rejected by Israel.