On January 20, Kamala Harris will step down as Vice President of the United States. The Democratic candidate lost to her Republican rival Donald Trump in the presidential election. After four years at Joe Biden’s side and an intense campaign lasting just over three months, Kamala Harris’s political future has never been more uncertain.

While she has yet to publicly state her future plans, the 60-year-old former senator has assured us that she will not “deny the fight that fueled this campaign”.during his “concession speechthe traditional speech given by the loser in an election to acknowledge defeat.

According to his long-time ally, California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, it’s still too early to plan the next stage of his career. “She’s just trying to think.”she said, before adding that she was “just trying to think”. “will have an answer to this question in the coming months”.reports New York Times . Until we know more, Le Figaro takes stock of the options open to the woman who wanted to become the first female president of the United States.

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Running again in 2028

Could she enter the race for the White House again in 2028? While this hypothesis is among the possibilities, the party’s history proves that Democrats are not in the habit of representing a defeated candidate. After Hillary Clinton’s failure in 2016, the party had quickly cast her aside, although she continued to maintain good relations with donors.

In 2004, following his defeat by George W. Bush, John Kerry decided not to seek re-election in 2008, supporting the candidacy of Barack Obama, who appointed him Secretary of State in 2012. Joe Biden then offered him the post of Presidential Climate Envoy in 2021. He resigned after contributing to Biden’s re-election campaign in 2024. Last October, John Kerry joined a green investment fund.

Albert Arnold Gore, known as Al Gore, also gave up his bid for re-election in 2004, after losing to George W. Bush in 2000. The Democrat lost despite winning the popular vote. The campaign was marked by more than a month of uncertain ballot counts. Like John Kerry, Al Gore has made a commitment to ecology, with a documentary presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006. He even won the Nobel Peace Prize with the IPCC in 2007. At the same time, he set up a sustainable economy investment fund. Today, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the World Economic Forum.

If Kamala Harris still wishes to run for re-election, her heavy defeat by Donald Trump, particularly in the popular vote, may have cooled the party’s donors, points out the New York Times.

An inferior position in politics

Kamala Harris has plenty of other political opportunities, however, such as a return to a Senate post – she was a California senator from 2017 to 2021. This scenario seems unlikely, however, as California’s two current senators are not likely to resign any time soon, reminds New York Times.

The vice-president, on the other hand, can run for governor, a position she has never held. This is what Richard M. Nixon did – without winning the election, editor’s note – after losing the presidential campaign in 1960. These two failures did not prevent the Republican from being elected head of state in 1969. However, Kamala Harris may refuse to enter the race, as her ally Eleni Kounalakis is already in the running. “Of course, if she were interested, her name could be an option. But I don’t know if she’d want to. It would be considered a setback.”analyses in Times Mark Buell, a San Francisco Democratic donor who worked on Harris’s campaign team when she ran for district attorney in 2002. He also reveals that, internally, everyone is wondering “whether it was a mistake to appoint Harris to replace Biden without her having earned it”. […] One person told me he wouldn’t fund her candidacy – it would split the California party if she ran.”.

Last political option, admittedly much less ambitious, becoming spokesperson for the Democratic Party and thus “play a role in the national party”.he tells Times Richie Greenberg, a San Francisco Republican political commentator.

Despite the many possibilities, some personalities who have worked with Kamala Harris are more pessimistic about her future in politics. Like her former communications director during her tenure as California Attorney General, Gil Duran. This San Francisco-based journalist believes that her defeat “seems to be the end of a political career, not the beginning. It’s as if the game is over. It’s tragic, for her and for the country.”.

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Working in the private sector

Like many political figures, Kamala Harris can turn to the private sector, which is far more lucrative than politics. For example, by joining a law firm or lobbying group. “A lot of people with a lot of money in Washington and California would be happy to have her take them on as clients.”explains New York Times.

Join a think tank

Multiple potential candidates and members of the Democratic administration have worked for the progressive-leaning think tank Center for American Progress, reports the New York newspaper. But the latter considers that “joining an existing think tank might be too modest a gesture for someone who was about to sit in the Oval Office herself.”.

Nor could Kamala Harris envisage founding a new organization in her own image. For such a project would require substantial fund-raising from donors, chilled by defeat in the election.

Write a book

The New York Times also mentions the possibility of Kamala Harris writing a book, as Hillary Clinton did with her book That’s how it happened following his defeat in 2016, published the following year. Publishers would undoubtedly be interested in an account of his experience in the Biden administration and his campaign against Trump.

Take a rest

Finally, Kamala Harris might just want a breather after her three-month campaign blitz. “At this point, she’s going to have to rest and lick her wounds.”Republican political commentator Richie Greenberg confirmed to Times.

A plausible scenario, since the unsuccessful candidate had declared that she had “intends to put on a few kilos after all this”.in a Pennsylvania bookstore on October 27, recalls the New York Times. “They make me work like crazy”she added.

The newspaper also mentions, with a touch of irony, the possibility of her going hiking, thus imitating Hillary Clinton. A few days after her defeat by Trump, the former Secretary of State was spotted by a hiker on a trail in Chappaqua, New York.

One thing’s for sure: before she steps down as vice-president, Kamala Harris will have one important task left: ensuring the transition “peaceful” with her Republican successor J.D. Vance, she promised the crowd on Wednesday.