WHas hate ever happened to Kamala Harris? For 107 days, she was everywhere, filling TV screens and campaign rallies in her whirlwind bid to win the White House. Then, with Donald Trump’s election defeat, it all ended as abruptly as it began. The rest is silence.

“The vice president has taken time off to spend time with her family,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday, acknowledging that Harris is vacationing in Hawaii with husband Doug Emhoff. “She has worked very hard over the past four years, and being able to spend a few days with her family is good for her.”

With Trump’s singular chaos already dominating Washington’s agenda, Harris’ vice presidency is clearly winding down. When she formally leaves office on January 20, she will serve as a private citizen for the first time since being elected San Francisco district attorney in 2003.

There has already been speculation about what might happen next. Although Harris, 60, has not announced any specific plans, advocates suggest options include a move to the private sector, a return to politics in California — or another presidential run in 2028.

Bakari Sellers, a close Harris ally and former South Carolina representative, said: “She can do anything she wants to do. She is more than capable. She has given this country more than enough. She can go to the private sector and make money. She can study law and teach.

“She can be governor of California and pretty much walk away. She can run for president again. Or she could just call it quits and spend time with Dougie. That decision hasn’t been made yet, but her options are endless.”

The last sitting vice president to lose an election was Al Gore in 2000. He went on to make an Oscar-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, and win the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to combat the climate crisis.

Losers of the elections since then include John Kerry, later Secretary of State, and John McCain and Mitt Romney, both of whom served in the Senate. Hillary Clinton wrote a book about her 2016 defeat, titled What Happened, while 2020 election loser Trump returned to win back the White House earlier this month.

Harris could be tempted by a stint in the private sector. Law firms and lobby groups would welcome her legal background and political connections. Alternatively, she could contribute to the policy debate by joining a think tank or setting up her own advocacy group.

She could also write a book giving her perspective on her time in Joe Biden’s White House, including internal tensions, and her hastily improvised campaign against Trump. The level of candor would likely depend on whether she plans a return to the political arena.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is term-limited in 2026, raising the prospect of Harris looking to make more history by becoming the state’s first female governor. As a former senator and attorney general of California, she has high name recognition in the state and would have no problem attracting donors.

Harris would follow in the footsteps of Richard Nixon, who lost the 1960 presidential election and ran for governor of California two years later. But he also lost that race. He told reporters: “You no longer have Nixon to play with, because gentlemen, this is my last press conference.” He roared back to win the presidency in 1968.

However, Harris would face competition from fellow Democrats in 2026. Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, a longtime Harris ally, has already announced her candidacy, potentially setting up a contentious primary.

Bill Whalen, a political consultant and speechwriter who has worked for California Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Pete Wilson, said: “There’s a breed of governor out there waiting for her if she wants it. If you look at the polls, there is no clear frontrunner. If she were to jump in, she would immediately push most Democrats out of the race and, given California politics, if it were her against a Republican in November, she would be a cinch to win it.”

The governorship of California, the most populous state in the U.S., would provide a high-profile platform that could keep Harris in the national spotlight and potentially position her for a future presidential bid. Like Newsom, Harris could position himself as the leader of the Democratic resistance against Trump.

But focusing on a race for governor could detract from Harris’ efforts to build national support and momentum for a possible 2028 presidential campaign. Whalen, a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution in California, said: The question is: does she want to be governor or does she want to be president? If she wants to be president, then governor is not the way to go because she would have to run for that office in 2026 and turn around and run for president in 2027..”

If Harris were to become governor, she might have to wait until 2032 for another bid for the White House. Whalen noted: “That’s a long time to wait in politics. If she wants to run for president again, it’s pretty simple: She and Gavin Newsom and (Illinois Governor) JB Pritzker and others have to figure out who is the tip of the spear of the so-called resistance. That would be the card she had to play.”

Democrats are still reeling from Harris’ 312-226 defeat to Trump in the Electoral College. But as of Thursday’s count, she was only 1.7% behind Trump in the national popular vote. She had a total of 74.3 million votes, the third highest vote total in history, behind Biden in 2020 and Trump in 2024.

The idea that Harris could make another bid for the White House in 2028 has already been floated. She retains access to the Democratic party’s most extensive donor network.

A Morning Consult poll this week found that 43% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said they would vote for Harris if the 2028 presidential primaries were held today. She was well ahead of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg with 9% and Newsom with 8%.

But the precedent is against her. Democrats have historically shown little appetite for renominating candidates who previously lost presidential elections, as Gore could testify. Moreover, after the defeats of both Clinton and Harris, the party will undoubtedly struggle with whether to put forward a woman for the third time. Democrats may also be inclined to leave the Biden-Harris era behind and look for new faces.

Chris Scott, who served as coalition director for Harris during the campaign, said: “I have no idea what she plans to do next. I’ve certainly heard the reports, as have many people around her, that she might run for governor. It would be great for California if she decided to do that, and it also keeps her in the conversation.”

Scott pointed to Harris’ strong advocacy on issues like reproductive rights and economic opportunity. “There is a chance that she can participate again in 2028. Obviously, many things will have to look different next time. But a loss here doesn’t change the fact that she has been an excellent public servant throughout her career. I hope we have not seen the last of her in politics.”