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Hey California, things can always get worse: Kamala leads early poll for governor

February 14, 2025 | | Print Article

Former Vice President Kamala Harris may not stay out of sight for long since her stinging defeat to President Donald Trump in November.

It seems Democrats in her home state of California are eyeing the twice-failed presidential candidate to take the top office in the Golden State. A new poll showed that Harris is leading with Democrat voters in running for governor as Gov. Gavin Newsom is term-limited.

According to an Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics/The Hill poll, 57 percent of Democratic primary voters in California supported the idea of Harris running.

“If Vice President Harris enters the Democratic Primary, she would start as the clear favorite,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said. “Without Harris in the race, the primary is wide open.”

Other potential candidates trailed behind Harris, with former Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) garnering 9 percent of the vote. Antonio Villaraigosa, the former speaker of the California State Assembly, and current Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalaki (D) each captured 4 percent of the votes.

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“With Harris out of the picture, support for Porter in the poll jumped up to 21 percent, followed by Villaraigosa at 9 percent and Kounalakis at 5 percent — and a whopping 45 percent of Democratic primary voters were undecided,” The Hill reported.

The survey, which found 17 percent of the Democrats undecided about the governor’s race, was conducted Feb. 10-11 among 1,000 California registered voters. The margin of error was 4.5 percentage points among the 469 primary voters who were Democrats.

Harris dismissed speculation last week about a potential gubernatorial bid.

“I have been home for two weeks and three days. My plans are to be in touch with my community, to be in touch with the leaders and figure out what I can do to support them,” she told reporters.

“I am here and would be here regardless of the office I hold, because it is the right thing to do, which is to show up in your community and thank the folks who are on the ground,” she added, speaking after she had toured fire-ravaged areas.

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Social media users weighed in on the poll and the seeming lack of logic by California Democrats.

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Frieda Powers
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