ESPN host Stephen A. Smith told podcaster Megyn Kelly that Democrats may face problems if former Vice President Kamala Harris is not the party’s nominee in 2028.
Harris lost the 2024 presidential election to President Donald Trump after replacing former President Joe Biden, who announced in July 2024 that he was dropping his reelection bid. Smith said that Harris would likely win the Democratic primary for the same reason she was “handed” the party’s 2024 nomination.
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“Essentially by default, that means Kamala Harris could be at the top of the heap. I don’t, I don’t, I, I think that would be a mistake, obviously, because I think that she’s had her chance, or bites at the apple, not just once but twice in 2020, she couldn’t even make it to Iowa. In this last election, you had 107 days, that’s true, but you also had $1.5 billion you understand, and you were to upgrade from Joe Biden and you still managed to lose that,” Smith told Kelly, a former Fox News host. “I don’t know how the Democratic Party will rally behind her being the candidate yet again, particularly after her book was calling out Josh Shapiro one minute, Gavin Newsom the other, etc., etc., but who knows.”
“So here’s the interesting thing, the Democrats are going to be in a position if they don’t select her, which is the same one they tried to avoid when Biden was forced out: They did not want to be seen as stepping over a black woman, given how important black women are to Democrat elections,” Smith continued. “So they, there was a large segment of the Democrat, you know, political class saying, we have no choice, we’ve got to give it to her, she’s the sitting vice president, like, if we try to bypass her for a Josh Shapiro or somebody like that, we’re gonna get killed.”
Harris announced she would not run for governor of California on July 30, 2025, despite speculation she was considering a run.
“You cannot bypass a black woman, female, like the, the, the VP for a Josh Shapiro, white guy,” Smith said. “Well, now we’re gonna have a primary this time around and If she gets bypassed, in other words, doesn’t win, and she loses to the guy who’s in the number two position, who is a white straight male Christian, Gavin Newsom, are they in the same position of having to look like they cast her aside?”
Potential contenders for the Democrats besides Harris include former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
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