While some polls exist asking Democrats who they prefer on their side of the ticket for president in 2028, I’m sure the field will vary massively as those planning a bid begin to pop their heads up. One thing I will say I’m fairly certain of: The nominee for the Democrats will be a man. I know Democrats have struggled to define what a man is in recent years—so I’ll be more clear, I’m talking about a concrete biological male, born and raised.
Prominent Democrat strategist and co-host of 2Way’s “Morning Meeting,” Dan Turrentine, agrees. Or at least, he didn’t mention Harris and others in his top four for Democrats moving forward. Which begs the question: Is former Vice President Kamala Harris already irrelevant?
Imagine being the Democratic Vice President and presidential nominee of your party and not even being mentioned as a political option moving forward? That’s where Kamala Harris has found herself. During a recent episode of the “Morning Meeting,” Turrentine, along with Mark Halperin and Sean Spicer, were debating the 2028 leading contenders on the Democratic side of the aisle. Turrentine, a former chief of staff on the Hill and lobbyist for Democrats, stated:
The leading contenders for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, says @MarkHalperin, include Josh Shapiro, Jared Polis, Michael Bennet and Gavin Newsom. But “none of these people are ready for this stage … And most people who win nominations are ready by this point in the… pic.twitter.com/1Q67NCcti6
— 2WAY (@2waytvapp) April 13, 2025
“My first one is going to be Beshear, and that is, I’m going to put him in the moderate lane, head down. He is stilted, he is, like, conservative. He’s not gonna light a room on fire — that could be to his advantage when you have the entertaining chaos machine on the other side. Sometimes the country says we want the opposite of what we have. So, I'm going to put him at "one" in the moderate lane.
"Shapiro has got, I’m just going to say this, I question, being Jewish, whether the country will go with that. This is just raw politics.
“I’m gonna put JB Pritzker in the progressive lane. He’s a white male with a couple billion dollars, I think he’ll put money behind it. He is unafraid to say things. I don’t agree with some of what he says, but I will put him over like Cory Booker, and I don’t think AOC makes the jump yet... Polis, I’m going to put in the libertarian wing by himself.”
RELATED: Kamala Harris Reveals Her Possible Next Move, and You'll Be Rolling on the Floor Laughing
During the entire 5-minute segment, which I encourage you to watch, not one of the three hosts even mentions former Vice President Kamala Harris. In fact, AOC and Spartacus are named, while she is not. For the sake of the topic I’m covering in this article, I’ll leave aside the mention from Dan that Democrats are not ready for a Jewish presidential candidate due to clear antisemitism—but it is worth noting and is still a major issue for the party.
You could make the point that Harris had her opportunity and got absolutely crushed on election night. She didn’t flip one county across the entire country that Trump had previously won, which is true.
Kamala Harris is the 1st candidate since Herbert Hoover 1932 who did not flip a *SINGLE* county pic.twitter.com/nqWds9ms8x
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) December 2, 2024
She lost the popular vote, which Democrats rarely do. The historical blue wall states crumbled. Frankly, she was never really in the race the entire night. Her supporters waited all night outside of Howard University to hear her speak, just to be told to come back the next day. Chase, we know all of this, why are you rehashing the election? Because it’s fun, guys! Never forget what we accomplished on election night.
To be fair to VP Harris, a poll conducted by Data for Progress in mid-March does have her leading when asked who Democrats believe is leading the party. Do you hear that, Kamala? Don’t give up. You can do this. History can still be made. Don’t let anyone hold you down. This is your time. Turn that cackle into a coalition!
The rumor mill is circulating that the former vice president may be looking at a bid for governor in her home state of California. Honestly, if she’s hoping to get back in the mix and stay semi-relevant, that may be her best path forward. Although that would take some humility on her part—but what could be more humiliating than the 2024 election? That’s what she’ll have to decide.
From the sound bites coming from Democrat operatives, the party has already moved on.
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