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CNN anchor Abby Phillip warned that former Vice President Kamala Harris could struggle in the 2028 presidential election amid burned bridges during her exclusive interview with The Breakfast Club on Tuesday (October 28).
“I think that there are a lot of bridges that are burned here whether she wanted to or not. And I think it will be very difficult for her to mend those fences that she’ll need in order to run if she does decide to run again. I think this book read kind of like somebody who was kind of done with it. So I will be interested to see if she decides to do it,” Phillip said.
“I think that she still has to figure out how to tap into authenticity in how she presents herself to the public because this world is not getting more kind to politicians who cannot level with voters and cannot show up any and everywhere,” she added.
Harris has been predicted by many polls as the favorite to land the 2028 Democratic nomination since her loss to President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, but has received mixed perception from Democrats in recent months, particularly causing a stir with her revealing memoir 107 Days chronicling her shortened presidential campaign.
“I think that she still has work to do in that respect, and maybe this book is the first kind of foray into that, because I read her last book, and the tone was completely different,” Phillip said. “This is a different kind of book, and it was an opening foray into her showing people more of herself, but she’s going to have to catch up to the speed and the kind of realness of media and politics that will be the bar in 2028.
“Like in 2028, the bar is going to be, ‘Are you a politician that can show up any and everywhere and authentically reach people?’”
“I think she is still straddling the old world and the new world, and she’s going to have to figure out which one she wants to be in,” she added.
Harris hasn't officially announced whether she plans to run for president again in 2028, but had previously declined a California gubernatorial run earlier this year.
“For now, my leadership — and public service — will not be in elected office,” Harris said in a statement released in July via CNN. “I look forward to getting back out and listening to the American people, helping elect Democrats across the nation who will fight fearlessly, and sharing more details in the months ahead about my own plans.”