Kamala Harris is stepping back from elected politics—for now. The former Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee revealed in an interview with Stephen Colbert that her decision not to run for California governor, or any other office, boils down to one belief: the system is “broken.”
“For now, I don’t want to go back in the system. I think it’s broken,” Harris said during her first televised sit-down since losing the 2024 election. “I always believed that, as fragile as our democracy is, our systems would be strong enough to defend our most fundamental principles. And right now, they’re not as strong as they need to be.”
Harris, a lifelong public servant who worked as a prosecutor, California attorney general, U.S. senator, and ultimately Vice President, said her career was built on the notion that change could happen from within government. But after witnessing what she described as “capitulation” by key institutions during Donald Trump’s second administration, she admitted her faith in the process has been shaken.
“What I did not predict was the capitulation. I didn’t predict that people would roll over for this president. I didn’t see that. I didn’t see that coming,” Harris shared. “And perhaps it’s naive of me, someone who has seen a lot that most people haven’t seen, but I believed that on some level, there should be many who consider themselves to be guardians of our system and our democracy who just capitulated. I didn’t see that coming.”
Harris specifically called out Congress for allowing controversial policy changes to move forward, including major cuts to Medicaid and the downsizing of the Department of Education. “They’re just sitting on their hands,” she said.
Earlier this week, Harris issued a statement confirming she would not join the California governor’s race despite being widely considered a frontrunner. “My leadership—and public service—will not be in elected office,” she said in that statement. On Colbert, she expanded on that decision, saying she wants to spend time traveling the country, connecting with people, and encouraging civic engagement outside the confines of a campaign.
“I don’t want it to be transactional where I’m asking for a vote,” she said. “I want to talk to folks, hear what they’re going through, and remind them of their power.”
Harris, who is releasing a memoir this fall titled 107 Days, reflecting on her short presidential campaign after Joe Biden dropped out of the race, left the door open to a return to politics, but not anytime soon.
