Following a devastating loss to Donald Trump, Kamala Harris returned home to California in January with a decision to make about her political future: to enter the race for governor, or not.
As she deliberated privately, the Democratic party was grappling publicly with a new political reality – one entirely reshaped by her defeat in last year’s presidential election.
Approval ratings for the Democratic party had cratered. Grassroots frustration with their party’s status quo swelled. And calls grew louder for Democratic officials to take a more combative – and urgent – stance against what many see as the Trump administration’s authoritarian threat.
On Wednesday, when Harris announced that she would not run