Washington, May 2: Former Vice President Kamala Harris used a high-profile speech Wednesday to sharply criticise President Donald Trump amid speculation about whether she will mount another presidential campaign or opt to run for California governor.Harris addressed the 20th anniversary gala for Emerge America, an organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office that grew in part from Harris’ run for San Francisco district attorney in the early 2000s.
Her speech came the day after Trump reached 100 days in office. It is expected to be her most extensive public remarks since leaving office in January following her defeat to Trump, with planned critiques of the Republican president’s handling of the economy, US institutions and foreign policy.
Instead of an administration working to advance America’s highest ideals, we are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of those ideals,” Harris said.
Before Wednesday, Harris had barely mentioned Trump by name since she conceded defeat to him in November, but she recently addressed the anxiety and confusion that have gripped many of her supporters since Trump took office.
“Fear has a way of being contagious, and we are witnessing that, no doubt,” she said at the Leading Women Defined Summit in early April, a forum for Black women leaders.
“But courage is also contagious,” she added, urging her audience to speak out against Trump. The current moment highlights “the power of kindness, the power of sisterhood, the power of self care.”
The speech was delivered below luminous chandeliers in a gold-trimmed ballroom in the landmark Palace Hotel in downtown.
Trump went after Harris in a campaign-style rally Tuesday marking his 100th day in office. He sarcastically called her a “great border czar” and a “great candidate,” and repeated some of the applause lines he routinely delivered during the campaign.
Until Harris replaced Joe Biden atop the Democratic ticket last summer, Trump said, “I knew nothing about her.”
Harris is ramping up her public presence as Democrats nationally search for a path forward after November’s election, in which Republicans also won control of Congress. While a slate of high-profile Democrats — from governors to businessmen — seek leadership roles within the party, the former vice president retains unique influence and would reshape any future race she chooses to enter.
Harris, a former state attorney general and US senator from California, has not discouraged speculation that she might enter the race to replace term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom, himself a potential contender for president. And she has not ruled out another run for the White House.
She continues to fundraise, using a joint committee that includes Harris for President, the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties. The committee, the Harris Victory Fund, reported having about $4.5 million on hand at the end of March, according to federal records.
In recent fundraising emails, Harris has been blunt about the need for Democrats to unify ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Democrats need to “organise and stop Trump’s agenda while electing Democrats everywhere,” she wrote in recent emails. “There has never been a more important time for a strong Democratic Party — one that is willing to stand up to Donald Trump, Elon Musk and what they are doing to this country.”
The event marks a homecoming of sorts. Harris lives in Los Angeles but she is from the San Francisco Bay Area, where her political career is rooted. For her first major speech since the election, she chose familiar terrain and a friendly, in some ways familial, crowd.