For Kamala Harris, the midterms offer a test no 2028 poll can provide

Her campaign stops could show whether the former vice president can still translate national recognition into turnout for Democrats.

Several Democrats in highly competitive races are betting on support from former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who will hit the campaign trail with them in the final days before the 2026 midterm election.

The upcoming travels will be the most consequential test for Harris, who is mulling over a potential 2028 presidential run and whether she can transfer her name ID and political celebrity to drive Democratic voters—specifically Black voters—to the polls.

“Seventy-plus million people voted for Kamala Harris two years ago. She is arguably one of the five most well-known Democrats in the country,” Democratic strategist Joel Payne tells theGrio.

Beginning on Oct. 21, Harris will embark on a more than week-long midterm blitz in key battleground states and the U.S. South to help boost the campaigns of Democratic nominees for governor and the U.S. Senate. What’s more, Harris’ itinerary also puts the nation’s first Black woman vice president and presidential nominee alongside a slate of Black candidates seeking to make history of their own.

Harris’ travels include Nevada to campaign for Aaron Ford, who could become Nevada’s first Black governor; Mississippi, where Scott Colom could become the southern state’s first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction; Wisconsin, where David Crowley could become the state’s first Black governor; and Georgia, where U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is running for re-election. Harris will also join a virtual campaign event for Angie Nixon, who could become Florida’s first Black U.S. senator.

Black voters will be critical in the aforementioned races, and Harris, who won 83% of Black voters in the 2024 presidential election, remains a popular figure in Black communities.

Payne, who worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, believes Kamala Harris can help Democrats on the Nov. 3 ballot by boosting base turnout. “Obviously, we can imagine that she is going to have a particular resonance in certain parts of the Democratic coalition: women, suburban voters, more highly educated voters, Black voters,” he said.

Despite the loyalty of Black voters, which the Democratic Party has enjoyed since the 1930s, voting trends have gradually shifted. And while Black voters aren’t flocking to the Republican Party, a segment of the voting bloc is instead choosing to stay home rather than vote for either party; the campaigns of Texas U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico and Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, have been investing heavily to court Black voters for that reason.

“Black voters are going to take a very central role in the story here,” said Payne. However, he warned Democrats of the “low trust environment writ large” among voters, but that is “particularly felt” in Black communities.

“I think the Obama era distorted Democrats’ view on just how to think about the Black vote as a part of the coalition. You got to go work for that vote,” he explained. “There are some people who are trying to do that, but I think folks may underestimate exactly how much work has to be done to do that.”

According to polls, Harris has the strongest support among Black voters; however, she leads in nearly every demographic group. Among the crop of potential 2028 presidential candidates, Harris consistently leads ahead of Democrats like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Despite several reports indicating that political donors are hardening on the prospect of a 2028 presidential campaign for Kamala Harris following her 2024 defeat, Payne says the former vice president’s midterm blitz demonstrates her team is ready to show that Harris’ voice still “matters” in various parts of the country. He told theGrio, “It takes two to tango, right? I mean, it’s one thing for her to want to be there, but clearly there are candidates who see value in the vice president being there.”

Payne added, “That ain’t nothing, and that’s worth considering.”

During a recent podcast interview with Keke Palmer, Kamala Harris was asked yet again whether she planned to embark on a third run for the White House.

A gleeful Harris instead turned the attention back to the election of 2026, telling the actress, “I haven’t decided yet…but the midterms, the midterms, the midterms!”

She added, “’28 doesn’t matter if we don’t do ’26 right.”