Former Vice President Kamala Harris came out of political hiding and attacked President Donald Trump late last week, her most pointed critique of the Trump administration since her November defeat. Harris made the attack during a surprise appearance at a California women’s leadership conference.
“We’re seeing people stay quiet. We are seeing organizations stay quiet. We are seeing those who are capitulating to clearly unconstitutional threats,” Harris told attendees at the Leading Women Defined Summit in Dana Point. “These are the things we are witnessing each day in these last few months in our country.”
Without mentioning Trump by name, Harris claimed there is a “sense of fear that is taking hold in our country” and said she warned the United States during her failed presidential campaign.
“There were many things that we knew would happen, many things,” Harris said, drawing loud cheers when she started laughing. “I’m not here to say, ‘I told you so.’ I swear, I wasn’t going to say that.”
The eight-minute address marked a rare political appearance for Harris, who has largely avoided public events since her landslide election loss. She concluded her remarks with a promise that she plans to remain politically active.
“We can’t go out there and do battle if we don’t take care of ourselves and each other,” Harris said. “I’ll see you out there. I’m not going anywhere.”
The apperance intensified speculation about Harris’s political future, particularly regarding California’s 2026 gubernatorial race to replace termed-out Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. Sources have said Harris will decide by late summer whether to enter what’s becoming a crowded field.
If Harris runs, she’ll face competition from several prominent Democrats who have already declared or are considering bids, including former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, former Rep. Katie Porter, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Lieutenant Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, former State Controller Betty Yee, former state legislator Toni Atkins, and state schools Superintendent Tony Thurmond.
Early polling suggests Harris would immediately become the frontrunner among Democrats. A February survey from Emerson College Polling showed her with nearly 60% support among likely Democratic primary voters.
Harris’s criticism of organizations “capitulating” to the administration came as her husband’s law firm recently struck a deal with the Trump administration to help with the president’s policies.
Since leaving office in January, Harris has made only limited public appearances, including meeting with firefighters in Altadena after Trump’s inauguration and accepting an NAACP award in February.