Kamala Harris deserves a big glass of wine. And hopefully in the weeks since Nov. 5, she’s been kicking back in the Naval Observatory, spending time with her husband and loved ones and winding down the last few weeks of her vice presidential duties.
President Joe Biden will be retiring to Delaware when his term ends. But Harris is vibrant and seems much younger than her 60 years. She’s evolved dramatically since her first presidential run in 2020, evincing keen political instincts and an ability to recalibrate as necessary. Even with her loss, and the inevitable round of post-mortem punditry currently playing out, she seems like a woman in her political prime. So what should she do next?
There can be an impulse to assume a losing political candidate (and especially a presidential one) should be put out to pasture. Harris, though, was running not just against Donald Trump, but global anti-establishment headwinds: Incumbents lost elections in some 70 countries in 2024. Between inflation, post-pandemic disorder and a global migration boom, among other issues, voters are fed up with their political leaders. Harris, whatever her political talents, seems to have paid the price for crises beyond her control.
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By most accounts, the Harris campaign was a strong one. After Biden dropped out of the race, Harris put together a rockstar team and campaigned around the clock in the final few months before Election Day. Her energy was astounding. Yes, her campaign spent big. Yes, there were some mistakes—she absolutely should have gone on Joe Rogan’s podcast. But she no doubt learned some important lessons along the way, and there’s much she can still bring to the country.
This doesn’t mean that we need to see Harris running for president in 2028. The Democratic Party has a wealth of young and emerging talent, and as it regroups in the wake of this loss, it should shore up fresh ideas and newer faces: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, among many others. But Harris would make a great governor of California, for example— she may not be the first woman to lead the nation, she could be the first to lead her home state. She would also make a fabulous law professor, and a huge draw to whichever school could grab her up.
Harris is a career public servant and, despite her loss, a hot commodity. She is no doubt fielding all sorts of offers from the private sector, and one can understand the temptation to check out of politics and cash in. But I hope she doesn’t.
So then the question is: What does Harris want? What motivates her?
In this moment, she is kind of like the trust fund kid who doesn’t need the money but works anyway. That’s a disappointing outcome no matter what: If the rich kid goes into banking, he’s just accruing more money, and for what? How nauseatingly boring. But if he does something more interesting with his financial freedom—opens an art gallery, launches a non-profit, writes a novel—well, he didn’t really earn his place amid his peers.
I find myself holding the most respect for those who create or those who serve others. Maybe they didn’t have to hustle like the rest of us. But if you could coast and choose instead to make something or give something, you—and the world—are probably better for it.
To be clear, Harris has hustled. Her current situation was hardly handed to her. But she is in a position now where she has nearly infinite choices in front of her (except, of course, the White House, which may have been the only one she really wanted).
And I hope she blows up everyone’s expectations.
Few of us are ever afforded such wide-open doors, and most who are squander the opportunity. I hope Harris is asking herself what she can give back, but also what she can learn—what she can try that’s new and challenging. I hope she takes on projects that thrill and scare her. I hope she models for the rest of us that there is no singular life path, and that sometimes the biggest disappointments clear out the space needed to build something truly original.
Consider: What would you do if you were newly one of the most prominent people in the country, in incredible demand and facing scores of people ready to say yes to whatever you ask? Would you really go work at BlackRock?
Maybe she wants to run an advocacy organization and make her (and her mother’s) motto—“You may be the first, but make sure you’re not the last”—a reality by supporting future female leaders. Maybe she wants to host her own cooking show. I’d watch! Maybe she wants to knit blankets for cat rescue organizations or save endangered coconut trees or collaborate with Converse on a line of pantsuit-appropriate Chuck Taylors.
As the first female vice president, and as the second woman to narrowly lose the White House, Harris no doubt finds herself quite burdened by what has been. But she can also choose to lay that baggage down and realize that she is in the extraordinarily lucky position of deciding, among limitless options, what can be—and who she can be in her post-election life.
