Kamala Harris escapes to Hawaii as Democrats reel from 2024 losses

As Democrats reel from a Republican takeover of Washington, Harris traveled to Kalaoa, Hawaii, on Tuesday evening, capping a postelection period in which she has shifted back into the background of the Biden administration.

President Joe Biden, who ceded the spotlight after he was pressured into ending his 2024 reelection bid, has resumed his role on the world stage with international meetings at the G20 and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation this past week. He will celebrate his 82nd birthday on Wednesday, and some of his allies say Harris may be all but forgotten.

“She’s never been the party leader,” one Democratic strategist close to the White House said. “She couldn’t get through a primary on her own, so it’s fitting that she’d slink off to Hawaii while the party falls apart.”

Harris has appeared in public just a handful of times following her 2024 electoral loss to Trump, including her Nov. 6 concession speech at Howard University.

“The outcome is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we hoped for, but hear me when I say, the light of America’s promise will always turn bright as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting,” she said.

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“It’s OK to be sad or disappointed, but please know it’s going to be OK,” Harris continued. “Sometimes the fight takes a while. Don’t ever give up.”

Harris also joined Biden for a pair of Veterans Day memorial services at Arlington National Cemetery, where First Lady Jill Biden appeared to give her the cold shoulder and reignited narratives of tensions between the Biden and Harris teams in the process.

The vice president was next seen at the White House the following Tuesday, where she was greeted by administration staffers in between the West Wing and Eisenhower Executive Office Building ahead of a lunch with Biden.

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Harris’s schedule also gives little insight into what official duties the vice president has done over the past two weeks, reading simply, “The Vice President will be in Washington, DC where she will receive briefings and conduct internal meetings with staff. These meetings will be closed press.”

Harris’s office declined to answer questions about her trip to Hawaii, what she and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff would be doing there, and when they would be returning.

Democrats are currently working to approve as many of Biden’s judicial nominees as possible before surrendering control of the Senate, and the vice president would be needed in Washington to cast her tiebreaking votes if necessary.

“She will definitely be available for any tie votes,” a Harris senior aide told NBC News. Another aide said those votes would wait until December when Harris returns from Hawaii.

The break out of the public eye comes after an untraditional 100-day campaign for the presidency that ended in total defeat.

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National pundits have thoroughly dissected her campaign, and critics on both sides of the aisle have openly questioned her campaign’s mismanagement of a historic war chest. Harris reportedly spent more than $1.5 billion in just 15 weeks on the campaign trail.

The Washington Examiner previously reported that Harris’s spending bonanza, an average in excess of $100 million per week, included upwards of $654 million on advertising. Backed by celebrities who showed up at her events, Harris’s campaign paid $1 million for Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions as the talk show mogul campaigned for her.

None of Harris’s campaign shortfalls, however, have quelled speculation about her political future.

A poll published by the University of California Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies found Harris atop a list of possible 2026 California gubernatorial candidates. Outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has been floated as a Democratic presidential candidate for 2028.

Harris, who previously served as California’s junior U.S. senator and the district attorney of San Francisco, earned 33% support in the UCB poll, far outpacing the second-place 13% posted by Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA).

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A poll published by Echelon Insights on Monday found Harris to be Democrats’ overwhelming favorite to be nominee again in 2028.

The vice president earned 41% in Echelon’s poll, compared to 8% for Newsom, 7% for Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA), 6% for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and 6% for Harris’s own running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN).

Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.