Former US Vice President Kamala Harris has said she won’t run for public office again, including the California governorship because, in her view, the system is “broken”, CNN reported on Thursday.
In her first interview since losing the 2024 presidential primary, Harris reflected on why she declined to enter the race and said on CBS’ ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’, “It has been my career… I don’t want to go back into the system. I think it’s broken.”
“I always believed that, as fragile as our democracy is, our systems would be strong enough to defend our most fundamental principles, and I think right now, that they’re not as strong as they need to be,” the former VP added.
Reacting to recent flurry of stringent measures taken by the Trump administration, including Medicaid cuts and/or targeting political opponents, Harris lamented, “What I did not predict was the capitulation.”
Harris further said that she was shocked to witness that so many of who considered themselves protectors of democracy were “just capitulated.” She also criticised leaders who choose to “ride out the storm” rather than act.
Seeking Connection Over Campaigning
Instead of making a return to politics, Harris is reportedly planning to travel across the country, listen to communities, and engage without “transactional motives”, the report said.
“For now, I don’t want to go back into the system. I want to travel the country. I want to listen to people… and I don’t want it to be transactional where I’m asking for their vote.”
On Congressional Inaction and Political Responsibility
Pointing to Congress’s silence over Trump team’s efforts to shrink the Department of Education, she said they “are just sitting on their hands.” On leadership in the Democratic Party, she stressed on the need for collective responsibility, reportedly saying burdening “any one person” is a mistake and that change depends on “all of our shoulders.”
Harris’s upcoming book, 107 Days, will detail her 2024 campaign. Further reflecting on the hurried timeline after former President Joe Biden dropped out from the election race, Harris told CBS that she “was so conscious and aware of the short time that we had.”
But her future purpose, she insists, lies outside elected office — leveraging her platform to reinvigorate democracy and encourage civic empowerment.
