Erika D. Smith, Columnist

Kamala Harris Wants to Be Heard. California Is Listening.

If the former vice president truly wants her message to land, she should run for governor, not the White House.

May 1, 2025 at 8:40 PM UTC

Erika D. Smith is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. She is a former Los Angeles Times columnist and Sacramento Bee editorial board member.

She has some things to say.
Photographer: Camille Cohen/AFP/Getty Images

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Given the brutal way that last year’s presidential election ended for Kamala Harris, in which she lost every swing state, it’s hard to blame the former vice president for choosing an exceedingly friendly venue to make her first major speech since leaving the White House. And so it was last night in San Francisco, headlining a fundraising gala for Emerge — a group that trains Democratic women to run for office and was inspired by Harris’ own 2002 campaign to be the local district attorney.

“It is so wonderful to be home,” Harris said from the stage of the Palace Hotel, smiling warmly before launching into an ice-cold assessment of President Donald Trump.