Harris Privately Contacts Mamdani, Progressives as 2028 Groundwork Begins

Summary

Kamala Harris made a private phone call to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani last week to talk about the Democratic Party's future, a conversation that Axios broke as part of a broader pattern of outreach to progressive figures, pro-Palestinian activists, and former aides. The calls signal that Harris is at least testing the waters for a 2028 presidential run, even as most conventional wisdom still treats her candidacy as a long shot after her 2024 loss to Donald Trump. That conventional wisdom may be worth questioning. The Free Press makes the case that Harris has structural advantages most commentators are too quick to dismiss: name recognition, a national fundraising apparatus, and a Democratic primary electorate that skews in her direction. Her reach to Mamdani is tactically telling. The DSA-backed mayor of New York City just won a landslide victory in the nation's largest city, and aligning with him signals Harris is positioning left rather than toward the center. Whether that's a winning general-election strategy is the argument Democrats are clearly already having. What's not in dispute is that Harris is making calls, and the party is watching.