The reason why former Vice President Kamala Harris hasn't jumped into the race for California governor yet is apparently that she is still of several minds about her future, and she sees a gubernatorial bid as a final choice against vying for the presidency again.

Where has Kamala been these last five months? Well, she's been hanging out in New York in Los Angeles, going to Broadway shows, attending Oscar parties and the NAACP Image Awards, and having a relaxing time cooking at home. That's the story from the New York Times this week, which reports that Harris has been weighing several options for her next steps, and only one of them is running for governor of California next year.

The Times reports that Harris sees it as a "binary choice" — either she pursues the Governor's Mansion, or she makes another go for the White House. And, friends tell the paper, she still thinks she could have beaten Donald Trump if she'd had more time to campaign.

She runs up against the Democratic establishment, which certainly has good reason to believe at this point that the American electorate, writ large, is so sexist that it would rather elect a bully blowhard con artist chaos agent who already proved himself as such than elect a woman to the presidency. Trump, a toxically masculine figure if there ever was one, has now beaten the only two female candidates ever to get their party's nomination, both of whom could debate him into the ground and visibly made him seethe with rage.

There is an open question as to whether the DNC will put a woman up for president again anytime in the near future.

Now lacking a foil, even Donald Trump has been encouraging her to run for governor of California, telling a podcast recently that she should "start doing interviews." One has to assume that Trump only wants this so that he can start mocking her again on Truth Social.

Should Harris want to peace out from political life altogether and still give back, there's the possibility of her and husband Doug Emhoff launching some sort of policy institute. But that would probably preclude a future political run, and Harris may still have too much ambition left in her.

And, friends tell the Times, Harris sees the role of California governor as a powerful enough one that she could probably push back on Trump's policy's fairly effectively, and at least steer her home state through these troubled times.

The race for governor of California would like be redefined if she entered it. Former Congresswoman Katie Porter has said that she is "full-speed ahead" on her campaign for now, but that Kamala entering the race could have a "near field-clearing effect," and she sounds more than likely to bow out if Kamala does join the race. Meanwhile, former Congressman and former CA Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who served in Biden's cabinet, just officially entered the race last week and claims to be unfazed by the prospect of running against Kamala. But we'll see.

It would be funny actually if it was just Kamala running against Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco...

Top image: Former Vice President Kamala Harris accepts the Chairman's Award onstage during the 56th NAACP Image Awards at Pasadena Civic Auditorium on February 22, 2025 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET)