Former Vice President Kamala Harris has privately called New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and held a series of closed door meetings with progressive figures, including pro-Palestinian activists, according to a report published Wednesday by Axios. The outreach is being read as the clearest sign yet that Harris is laying groundwork for a possible 2028 presidential run and is working to rebuild trust with the left wing of her party, a bloc that broke sharply from her over Gaza during the 2024 campaign.
According to Axios, Harris called Mamdani last Thursday to discuss the future of the Democratic Party, with the two agreeing to hold a longer follow up conversation. The outlet reported that Harris has also exchanged text messages with Mamdani periodically over the past several months. The call came two days after congressional candidates endorsed by Mamdani swept three New York City primary races, unseating two Democratic incumbents, a result that has unsettled centrist Democrats and elevated Mamdani's standing within the party's progressive wing since he was sworn in as mayor in January.
The outreach extends well beyond Mamdani. Axios reported that Harris met in April with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the sidelines of a Chicago conference for Black women's empowerment, and that she has spent the past year working to reconnect with pro-Palestinian activists who turned on her during the 2024 race. Among them is Abbas Alawieh, a co-founder of the Uncommitted Movement that formed in opposition to the Biden administration's Gaza policy, who told Axios he met privately with Harris last week after she repeatedly initiated contact. Alawieh said he told Harris directly that American funding should never be used, in his words, to target civilians or destroy communities. Harris has also spoken with James Zogby, a longtime Democratic National Committee member and prominent pro-Palestinian voice, and has consulted former aides on issues including China, artificial intelligence and Venezuela.
The overtures mark a notable shift for Harris, who as vice president was seen by many progressive activists as a sympathetic internal voice on Gaza even as the Biden administration maintained strong military backing for Israel. In her 2025 memoir, Harris wrote that she had privately urged Biden to show greater empathy toward Palestinian civilian deaths, saying he could declare himself a Zionist with conviction but that his statements about Palestinian suffering felt inadequate. During the 2024 campaign itself, Harris did not publicly break from the administration's posture, and progressive organizers have said they were angered by her campaign's decision not to allow a Palestinian American speaker at the Democratic National Convention.
Reaction to the reported outreach has been sharply divided. Rania Batrice, a progressive strategist and Palestinian American, told Axios that skepticism toward Harris remains warranted until her shift is proven, while Patrick Gaspard, a Democratic strategist who has served as a validator for Harris on the left, defended her record of listening to advocates beyond official Washington channels. Republicans seized on the report as evidence of a leftward lurch, with Republican National Committee chair Joe Gruters telling Fox News Digital that Harris's courting of Mamdani reflects a party in disarray.
Harris has not declared a 2028 candidacy but has acknowledged weighing one, telling an April audience at the National Action Network conference that she is thinking about it. Her decision earlier this year not to enter the California governor's race was widely read as preserving her options for another national bid. She remains near the top of most early polling for the 2028 Democratic primary field, though she continues to face skepticism from progressive, centrist and donor factions of the party alike.
