She spent $1.4 billion. Lost every swing state. And never clearly articulated a single policy difference from the man she replaced at the top of the ticket. Now Kamala Harris is reportedly eyeing another run at the presidency, and the reaction from her own political world is something between disbelief and quiet dread.
Her donors are not on board.
ABC News spoke with more than 15 former donors, fundraisers, campaign aides, and Biden White House staffers. The verdict was unanimous. “I have not heard one person suggest it would be good for anything if she ran,” said an influential California donor who backed her early. A fundraiser from her 2024 campaign was equally blunt: “I don’t believe that Kamala is the right person for this moment by any stretch of your imagination.” A longtime Democratic donor who raised money for her 2020 campaign added: “I really have not heard anybody say that they want her to run. In fact, it’s the opposite.”
Then there is the thank-you note problem. As originally reported, a fundraiser who worked both her 2020 and 2024 campaigns dropped a detail that has to sting: “For somebody who wants to have a future political career, she has done nothing to maintain any relationships with anybody that I’m aware of that were her big donors. We’re now two years into it, and I don’t know anybody who’s even got a thank you note.”
She raised $1.4 billion. Lost. And apparently could not find the time to send notes to the people who funded it.
Michael LaRosa, Jill Biden’s former press secretary, went on Fox News and said voters “are not going to give Kamala Harris a third at-bat.” He argued she needs to stop waiting and “start leading.” A Democratic strategist pushed back, saying Harris has been “listening to the American people.” But the distinction matters. Listening is not leading, and Democrats heading into 2028 need someone who can do the latter convincingly.
The broader picture makes this even more striking. Harris is reportedly polling as the 2028 frontrunner within the party. She has been consulting progressive New York politician Zohran Mamdani on Israel policy. She recently purchased an $8 million mansion in California. Every external signal points to someone who intends to run.
And yet, nearly every Democrat who wrote the big checks for her last two campaigns is quietly telling reporters they would prefer someone else.
The structural challenges her donors are flagging, including the failure to build relationships, the communication gaps, and the difficulty defining a clear political identity, are not problems that tend to fix themselves in a few years. They are patterns. And patterns have a way of repeating.
Whether Harris ultimately decides to run remains to be seen. What is already clear is that the enthusiasm machine that once surrounded her has gone very, very quiet.