Since losing the Electoral College and the popular vote to Donald Trump in 2024, Harris has remained active in politics — campaigning for other Democrats and writing a memoir about her campaign.
Newsom survived a recall election in 2021, only the second gubernatorial recall in California history. It was triggered largely by opposition to his COVID-19 policies and dissatisfaction among voters about high taxes and cost of living, housing and homelessness problems and broader political opposition to his policies.
Now, as his time in office winds down, he is said to be seriously considering a run for president.
According to recent polls, Harris and Newsom are the early favorites to capture their party's presidential nomination in two years. A compilation of polling by 270-to Win shows the former vice president in the lead with 21%. The California governor follows with nearly 19.5%, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is a distant third.
Dr. Kevin McGary, a California-based entrepreneur and political analyst, says those figures show "how shallow and ridiculous the Democratic Party is."
"They really don't have bright people on deck. These are the two light bulbs that they have right now," he says. "These people are silly. They're unserious. Kamala, she's just not an intelligent person. Based on the condition of California, everybody should know that Gavin is just a commie at heart, and he thinks that he can flash a smile with the slick hair and get elected by suburban women."
McGary does not think Democrats' policy initiatives and grasp of the issues can overtake a serious Republican candidate like Marco Rubio or J.D. Vance.
"These guys are rockstars, and they run laps around these of these folks on the Democrat side," he submits. "These guys are very, very serious people with very various serious thought processes."
Fundamentally, he says it really does not matter who the Democrats go with.
"I think that they're positioning not for '28, but maybe for '32," McGary tells AFN. "They know that there's a lot of momentum behind our current president, and his two rockstar guys are going to be hard to beat. They just are."
