SACRAMENTO — Kamala Harris may make history as the first woman and person of color elected governor of california. But she must really want the job.

She didn’t think it was just a consolation prize. lose the presidential election To Donald Trump. Nor could she see it as a stepping stone back to the White House.

California voters will likely pick up on that sentiment and not elect her. Either way, she’s going to be miserable at work.

Instead, Harris will need to see this job as someone who could end her career with pride in solving complex problems that are eroding her home country.

She will have to passionately address homelessness, housing shortages, street crime, overregulation, permanent water shortages, and year-on-year vexations. balance a precarious national budget It is fed by an outdated tax system that should have been modernized years ago.

These black eyes in California are a serious dilemma. But without a dedicated desire to solve them, they can be seen as tiresomely boring compared to leading a country in a wide range of national issues and global diplomacy.

There will be no “Long Live the Secretary,” no “presidential” US Marine Corps band to perform at state dinners, no private cabin on Air Force One, and indeed, no governor’s plane.

And unlike living in an all-expenses-paid stately White House, she won’t be moving into the creaky old Victoria governor’s mansion that Gov. Gavin Newsom fled and bought his own soon after being elected. As long as there is no housing allowance at all. Vast site on the outskirts of Sacramento.

Win or lose, if Ms. Harris runs to replace Mr. Newsom when her term ends in 2026, as is widely speculated, her chances of becoming president are likely to be closed.

Some argue that that’s wrong. They are referring to Richard Nixon, also from California.

Nixon was vice president, but lost the top position to John F. Kennedy in 1960. Two years later, like Harris, he ran for governor of California, losing to Democratic incumbent Pat Brown.

“Think of how much you have to lose,” the bitter loser famously told reporters the morning after his embarrassing defeat. “There’s no need to throw Nixon around anymore, because, folks, this is my last press conference.”

Not completely.

Six years later, Nixon ran for president again and narrowly won. Some have cited the comeback as historical evidence that Harris’ run for governor could be a setback for the White House.

The fallacy in this scenario is:

Nixon spent six years regrouping and planning his campaign. There should be no grace period for Mr. Harris.

If Harris becomes governor in January 2027, she would have to start running for president in 2028 almost immediately. How opportunistic does that look? She will be seen as two-faced by voters around the world.

Harris could wait until her second term as governor and run for president in 2032, but the political climate would likely have changed by then. Unlike in 2028, the incumbent president will undoubtedly seek re-election in 2032 – likely as a Democrat.

In 1968, Republican Nixon benefited greatly from the Democratic Party, which had been divided by the Vietnam War. And if Democrat Robert F. Kennedy had not been assassinated on election night after winning the California primary, I am certain he would have defeated Nixon in November.

Age is also a factor. Harris will turn 68 in 2032, while Nixon was only 55 at the time. he was elected to the position of president.

Harris will not run for governor and may run again for president in 2028, when Trump’s term ends. But I doubt Democrats will lean on her again after she lost to someone as flawed as Trump.

True, not all of the losses were her fault. President Biden stubbornly refused to withdraw from the race until it was too late for the vice president to build a strong public support base. But she still lost. Nixon’s fluke aside, political parties usually don’t double down on losers.

Therefore, becoming governor appears to be her best option if she wants to “keep the fight going,” as she says.

But she should expect a race, not a trot.

She would need to raise at least $50 million, and probably more than $100 million. And she could do that if she had access to big donors. But it takes energy, time, and hard pitching.

Harris will need a strong message. It would take a more compelling message than the yawning “we’re not going back” she used against Trump.

Because, let’s be honest, she didn’t do as well in California this year as Biden did in 2020. Harris beat Trump by 20 points, while Biden beat Trump by 29 points.

And despite being a U.S. senator, former California attorney general, and former San Francisco district attorney, she was trailing significantly in the polls in her home state before dropping out of the 2020 presidential primary.

But thanks to her familiarity with voters, long campaign history, and fundraising ability, Harris will definitely be the frontrunner. For the governor.

she did that effectively clear the field That’s why many current Democratic candidates have dropped out, and several others are considering running to put it behind them. Most were unable to raise enough funds to fight against her. Unfortunately, that is the curse of modern politics.

But perhaps a strong competitor will emerge. Probably a moderate Democrat with a lot of money.

Mr. Harris should not wait long to make a decision. If she were to run, it would be best to build a campaign structure and market herself in the state by spring.

Should she run away? No doubt, if deep down she wants to become a powerful governor of her home state, which is the fifth largest economy in the world. If she really wants to “stay in the fight.”