Kamala Harris’ Former Campaign Chair Won’t Commit to Backing Her in 2028 - Newsweek

Mitch Landrieu, the former New Orleans mayor who co-chaired Kamala Harris' 2024 presidential campaign, says he is thinking about running for president himself. Asked whether he would support another Harris run, he declined to say yes.

"I like her very much. I enjoyed serving with her. I thought she ran a good campaign under very difficult circumstances," Landrieu told Carlo Versano in an interview on Newsweek's The 1600 podcast.

He stopped short of an endorsement though. "If she wants to run, everybody should run. I don't think we ought to be in the business of telling people what to do or what not to do," he said. "I think the country is looking for something different and something new."

He closed his answer with advice for any 2028 hopeful. "If you feel like you got in your heart and your soul you feel you have something to give to the country, get out there and let the voters tell you whether or not you get to stay on the island."

Responding to a question about whether he was mulling a presidential bid, Landrieu confirmed it. "I am thinking about it," he said. "I'll make a decision at the appropriate time."

Landrieu, a Democrat who also served as Louisiana's lieutenant governor and as President Joe Biden's infrastructure coordinator, said he cares more about what ordinary people can do than about who holds the White House. "Democracy is not self-operating," he said. "A president alone will not save us."

He argued that neither the courts nor Congress can be counted on to check President Donald Trump. Republicans in Congress, in his view, are not restraining the president the way a Republican majority did with Richard Nixon. "The senators are not coming. The congressmen are not coming. The only people who can save this country are the people."

Landrieu joined the show to talk about The Long Play, a docuseries he hosts for Crooked Media that travels through Southern states ahead of the midterms. The series rests on the idea that the South is where American politics is headed.

He pointed to population movement as the driver. "People are moving out of California, or maybe not necessarily into Florida anymore but from Florida to North Carolina, or people are moving from New Jersey down to Tennessee," Landrieu said. "When people move, things change."

Democrats, he said, have paid a price for writing off the region. "There has been a massive disinvestment politically in trying to build things in the South," Landrieu said. "If you want people to vote for you, you have to go see them, even if you've been losing."

In Texas, he said, the Senate race between Democratic candidate James Talarico and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, could be closer than many expect. Landrieu attended a Talarico rally in Laredo and met people there who had voted for Trump three times and planned to back Talarico.

"They said, we're very disappointed in the president. We voted for him three times. He said he was gonna do two things, stay out of wars and reduce our costs. He didn't do either one of those things," Landrieu said.

The polls back him up. Siena College has Talarico ahead of Paxton 49 percent to 43 percent in a survey taken September 8 to 11, and Emerson College has it much tighter at 47 to 46. Emerson also found that Hispanic voters in Texas, who went for Trump in 2024, now lean Talarico by 15 points, 54 percent to 39 percent.

On his home state, Landrieu was more cautious. Louisiana, he said, will be one of the last Southern states to shift toward Democrats, along with Mississippi. "My honest assessment is that it's a little bit harder than all the other states right now."

Voters no longer sort themselves neatly by party, according to Landrieu. Working-class Americans feel the system is rigged against them, he said, and are losing patience with politicians who speak to them simply as Republicans or Democrats.

Trump's numbers reflect that broader frustration, Landrieu warned. Most polling averages now put his approval at 33 percent and disapproval at 61 percent nationally, giving him a net rating of minus 28. In July, his net rating was minus 19.

He also had a message for the far left of his own party. "If you're not with me a hundred percent, you're not with me at all. In my opinion, that is a losing proposition, politically, spiritually, economically and for our country," Landrieu said.

As some Democrats have reconsidered or distanced themselves from positions associated with the progressive politics of the late 2010s, Landrieu has not backed away from one of his most controversial decisions as mayor.

In 2017, he ordered the removal of four Confederate monuments in New Orleans, a move that drew fierce opposition at the time. Nearly a decade later, he said he has no regrets. “I'd do it twice as fast and I'd do more if I could,” he said, calling the monuments “a lie.”

Landrieu also defended the Biden administration's infrastructure law against Democrats who say the White House was too slow to get projects built before the 2024 election. He said the administration pushed $800 billion out the door in under a year and a half and started 73,000 projects. He acknowledged the political payoff was limited.

"Politically, it didn't help very much, I agree with that," Landrieu said. "But in terms of a good piece of public policy that's really gonna impact the future of the country, I stand by it."

Watch the full conversation between Mitch Landrieu and Carlo Versano in the video player above or on YouTube.

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