By In a judicial contest with national implications, Wisconsin Democrats secured a narrow but crucial victory in the state’s 2025 Supreme Court race. Now, their secret strategy has been revealed.
Although she’s currently considering whether to jump back into politics, Wisconsin Democrats begged Kamala Harris to stay home this time around, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
Wisconsin Democrats rejected Harris’s offer to visit during early voting ahead of the April 1 election, fearing that the failed presidential candidate’s presence would be “a potential distraction during early voting,” sources told the New York Times. Even a Zoom call that Harris held with around 100 Democratic volunteers was kept under wraps until after polls closed, at the request of party officials.
The snub comes after Harris has largely vanished from public view since her November defeat—even as Democratic voters urge party leaders to take a stronger stand against the Trump administration. While other Democrats, including former Harris running mate Tim Walz, have crisscrossed the country with speeches and town hall events, Harris has stayed on the sidelines, giving no interviews and making few public appearances.
Behind the scenes, however, Harris has told allies that she is preparing to run for governor of California in 2026. Leading the state, Harris says, would allow her to challenge President Donald Trump and promote Democratic priorities without diving back into the national fray just yet, according to the Times.\
Many Democrats disagree, telling the Times that “the 2028 election will be a contest for the party’s future in which she would be perceived as a figure of the past.”
The decision surfaced deep into a recent New York Times profile charting Harris’s political prospects. While the article focused largely on her personal life and possible future ambitions, it noted that party strategists had deliberately downplayed her involvement in Wisconsin—fearing her presence might do more harm than good.
The episode underscores a larger dilemma for the party. While Harris remains in good standing with her party, her role in competitive electoral contests has diminished as she’s been forced to compete on skill rather than political appointment from other liberal leaders. Privately, strategists are recalibrating how and where to deploy her. The choice to sideline her in Wisconsin may prove to be more than a one-off—it could signal a broader pattern as the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential race draw closer.
Even in California, where Harris once held sway, her position looks increasingly tenuous. Though some allies continue to talk up a gubernatorial run, others—like Xavier Becerra and Antonio Villaraigosa—are already staking claims to the same ground, and show no signs of stepping aside.
The Wisconsin court race was close. But it may also have been clarifying. Yet in the quiet decisions made behind closed doors, Democrats really have become a party without direction for the future.
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