This November, over 150 million U.S. citizens voted for their future president on Election Night, a critical time for deciding the country’s future over the next four years. To the Republican Party’s delight, the election ended with Donald Trump’s victory. However, this also implied a significant loss for the Democratic Party, whose presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, did not receive enough votes to be elected. Now, both Democrats and Republicans alike are left wondering: what’s next for Harris in politics?
Although first elected as U.S. Vice President in 2020 under the Biden-Harris administration, Kamala Harris’s career initially began in 2002, when she ran for District Attorney of San Francisco and won with 56% of the vote. In just a few years, Harris had become the Attorney General of California, where she implemented significant political change by overturning law propositions and advocating for women’s and minority groups’ rights.
However, one of Harris’s most notable achievements would be her promotion to Vice President under the Biden Administration. During that time, Kamala Harris’s work was mostly centered around addressing the migration crisis currently affecting the U.S., protecting the right to abortion, and continuously fighting for the voting rights of those living in the country. Nevertheless, when Biden stepped down as presidential candidate and endorsed Harris for the position, the Vice President’s focus shifted toward running a presidential campaign alongside Tim Walz, a Democratic governor whom Harris nominated as her running mate.
Nevertheless, with Donald Trump’s electoral victory, Kamala Harris will be forced to leave office by January of 2025, and has not yet decided on her next political agenda. On one hand, she could run for a lower position in office, such as going back to the Senate, or wait four more years until the next U.S. elections and run for president. On the other hand, however, Harris could focus on defending her values by founding an advocacy organization, or even writing a book to discuss her experiences as a presidential candidate.
But no matter her decision, members of the Democratic Party have agreed that Kamala Harris currently has plenty of options and opportunities available to her, and that her next steps really come down to her own goals for the future.
Bibliography:
Epstein, Reid J, et al. “What’s next for Kamala Harris? Here Are Six Options.” The New York Times, 7 Nov. 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/11/07/us/politics/kamala-harris-2028-run-for-president.html.
Mayhugh, Jeff. “What’s next for Kamala Harris?” The Hill, 12 Nov. 2024, thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4984531-kamala-harris-future-plans/.
McNamee, Gregory Lewis, and Tracy Grant. “Kamala Harris | Biography & Facts.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Kamala-Harris.
The White House. “Kamala Harris: The Vice President.” The White House, 20 Jan. 2021, www.whitehouse.gov/administration/vice-president-harris/.