Kamala Harris is keeping her options open.

The former vice president is spending the final days until Election Day stumping for Democrats in battleground states, including events in Wisconsin on Monday. As she emerges from keeping a relatively low-profile, a string of recent public appearances is stirring chatter about her future.

According to conversations with people who’ve known or worked for Harris, several admitted that they are genuinely unsure whether she will ultimately launch another presidential bid in 2028. One person close to Harris said she’s taking the pulse of the electorate, as she travels the country, to determine whether she fits the vision that voters want.

Harris is widely known for being cautious about decision-making, the people said, gathering as much information as possible before making a judgement call. A former 2024 campaign staffer described Harris’ moves since leaving the White House as “confusing,” offering little insight into whether she’ll make another play for the Oval Office or not.

It’s “the question of the hour,” the former staffer said. “She’s trying to be a figurehead now, but in a very careful way that doesn’t necessarily, in my mind, bode that she is gearing up to run.”

Harris herself says she hasn’t decided whether she will run for president again, and is instead focused on helping Democrats retake control of Congress. The midterms, however, will mark a defining moment for her party, as several progressive candidates — including democratic socialists — fight for seats in Congress. A person familiar with her thinking said Harris believes Americans are looking for aggressive executives after the Trump era.

“Folks are angry, you know, they’re pissed,” Harris said of voters in an August podcast interview with former Georgia state Representative Stacey Abrams. “You can see through many of the recent elections, people are done with status quo and are not interested in a defense of status quo.”

As for the future of the Democratic Party, “where is it headed?” she added. “I think it’s too early to tell.”

The former vice president’s shifting policy positions over the years have created obstacles for her, including in 2024 when voters cited a lack of clarity about what she stands for.

Recently, Harris has advocated for expanding the Supreme Court’s bench, and called for “revisiting” abolishing the Electoral College. Earlier this month, she condemned Israel’s “horrific” actions in Gaza, expressing regret that the Biden administration didn’t seek to restrict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu “sooner and more forcefully.”

A former Harris adviser said that in a presidential primary it’s imperative to “know where you are and have a conviction, and it becomes revealed over the course of the campaign if you don’t have a conviction.”

“It’s tough to run for president not knowing exactly the type of candidate [you want to be] and the positions you want to take,” the former adviser said.

Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive for Change Committee, who wants to see Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez run in 2028, criticized Harris’ past rhetoric on economic policies, such as her previous support of Medicare-for-All before backing the expansion of Obamacare instead.

Affordability remains voters’ biggest priority in polling. “Economic populism is not in her gut,” Green said, recalling her 2024 debate with President Donald Trump. “She had beautiful answers on abortion. She had some pretty good answers on democracy. She threw not one punch on economic issues.”

A Harris bundler, who recently spoke with Harris by phone and requested anonymity to speak freely, expressed doubt that her donors would bankroll another presidential bid. Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, another potential 2028 hopeful, also share overlapping donor networks, putting their fundraisers in a tough position if they both choose to enter the fray.

“I know her base of supporters. I know her friends. The Zen diagram on that is just pure crossover,” Newsom told CNN last month, denying that he would run if Harris jumped in the race. “I wouldn’t do that to people.”

Another Harris presidential run also risks reminding Democrats of a painful memory: Trump won both the popular vote and all seven swing states in the 2024 election.

“Part of her brand has been that she represented the future; she now really represents the past history, and that’s just a really big adjustment,” the former Harris adviser said.

Harris’ allies, though, caution party insiders not to count her out, given her high name recognition and favorability with voters. Harris remains a frontrunner amongst potential 2028 contenders, according to early national polling gathered by MS NOW’s partner, FiftyPlusOne. Her sway with Black voters in particular would give her an outsized advantage, especially in states like South Carolina, the party’s first-in-the-nation primary.

Kevin Harris, a political consultant who served as chief of staff for Biden’s 2020 campaign in Georgia, noted that the previous two Democratic presidential nominees — former President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — both started and ended their primary cycles as the frontrunner.

“It’s not uncommon in recent history where the people who ultimately got the presidency ran a few times before they got there,” said Harris, a Democratic strategist with no relation to the vice president. “She still is gonna be the only person in that field that has ever gotten a significant amount of votes in every state. Nobody else starting out is gonna even have that.”

If Harris eventually decides not to run, she maintains significant influence in the party. Several Democratic politicians have continued to seek out Harris for political advice by phone since her 2024 loss, according to a person familiar with the matter. She is also the third most popular Democrat in the country behind former President Barack Obama and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, YouGov rankings show.

Because of that status, some Democrats advise possible 2028 rivals to tread lightly. Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin, seen as another likely candidate, recently said in an interview that Harris shouldn’t run again. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was considered as her running mate in 2024, blasted Harris’ descriptions of him in her memoir as overtly ambitious, as “blatant lies.”

Elsewhere, a handful of Democratic candidates in red states, including Kansas’ Adam Hamilton, Iowa’s Rob Sand and Alaska’s Mary Peltola, have also rebuffed when asked if they would welcome Harris to campaign in their state. Harris told MS NOW’s Peter Alexander that she supports “them in doing whatever they need to do to win.”

Kevin Harris, the Southern-based political consultant, says Black voters, a core constituency, “are very protective of her, and want to see proper respect given for what she has accomplished and what she symbolizes her historical significance to the community.”

Harris will head to Georgia on Thursday to campaign for Sen. Jon Ossoff, who is drawing his own 2028 buzz. She’ll also deliver the keynote address at the Fulton County Democratic Party’s Annual Dinner and join a get-out-the-vote effort with NAACP in Atlanta. First, she’s slated to headline Monday’s NAACP townhall in Wisconsin.

In recent days, she has appeared with candidates in Nevada and New Hampshire, two other early states on the DNC’s primary calendar, as well as Mississippi. Florida Democratic Senate candidate Angie Nixon, a progressive firebrand, also joins Harris on a virtual organizing call later this week.

Other names in the 2028 mix are making moves of their own.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is spending the final days until the midterms on the campaign trail, including stops in Georgia with Ossoff and Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate David Crowley, whom Harris is campaigning with, too. In recent months, he has hired more staffers at his political organization, known as Win the Era, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly reiterated on Friday that he’s weighing a presidential campaign after the midterms. Meanwhile, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore recently dodged a question during his gubernatorial debate about whether he would serve out a full second term. Asked again during an interview with ABC News on Sunday if he was committed to fulfilling the term, he said, “Yeah, I wouldn’t be running for re-election if I was thinking about anything else, to be clear,” Moore said.

The 2028 countdown starts as soon as election results are in.

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