I have no inside knowledge or insight as to whether Kamala Harris will run for governor of California in 2026. I’m not looped into her inner circle or decision-making process.

But as someone who has advised many potential candidates about whether to run for offices from president to city council, I do have some perspective on what she should be considering.

Having managed four campaigns for governor of California, I know the process is often harrowing and humbling for those who throw their hat in the ring. The state’s electorate is not on the whole very attentive to politics, picking up only bits and snippets about candidates, many of them negative, and the media is out to turn over every rock to expose every frailty, screw-up, inconsistency and verbal slip.

In Harris’s case, she is already well known to voters, having been on the statewide ballot eight times, and having served as vice president, U.S. senator and attorney general. But she will be tested on two issues having nothing to do with her service as a senator or attorney general.

If she does run, she will be pestered unmercifully about whether she would just be using the governorship as a holding room on her way to another White House bid. She would, of course, have to issue a pro forma pledge to serve a full term. The........

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