Democrat Mary Peltola’s Alaska Senate campaign did not want Kamala Harris speaking for it when the former vice president’s political committee sent supporters a fundraising appeal on the candidate’s behalf.
Harris’ Fight for the People PAC emailed donors in August urging them to “stand behind Mary” and calling the Alaska race a must-win contest for Democrats hoping to regain the Senate, The New York Times reported.
The message directed contributors to split donations between Peltola’s campaign and Harris’ committee.
Peltola’s team quickly said it had not approved the email and did not know it was going out.
The campaign stated that Peltola was not seeking endorsements from anyone in the Lower 48 and would keep her focus on Alaska, where several labor groups have backed her.
The former congresswoman is challenging Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. Limited polling has indicated a competitive contest, although Peltola would need to outperform Harris’ 13-point loss in Alaska in 2024.
Kamala Harris fully acknowledges that Democrats REALLY don’t want her to campaign with them in Republican states. pic.twitter.com/UDOrSFJyAy
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 3, 2026
Democrat Rebecca Cooke delivered a similarly independent message in western Wisconsin, where she is running against Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden.
“I received 9,000 more votes than Harris in 2024,” Cooke told Politico. “I don’t need anyone to come and campaign with me in my district.”
Cooke said she does the work of building relationships on her own, including with people across the aisle.
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Politico also found reluctance among Democratic candidates elsewhere.
Iowa’s two most prominent Democrats did not want Harris to campaign for them, while the state’s Democratic Senate nominee turned down a fundraising solicitation that Harris had sent on her behalf.
A Wisconsin candidate in a swing district and a long-shot Democratic Senate hopeful in Kansas also told the outlet they would rather Harris keep her distance.
When MS NOW’s Peter Alexander brought that reporting to Harris on Thursday, she responded that individual campaigns know how to handle their own races.
“Listen, Peter, we need to win, OK? Bottom line, we need to win,” Harris told him. “These candidates know what they need to do to win, and I would expect nothing less.”
Harris did not rule out appearing for other Democrats. She said she intends to participate where candidates consider her useful and described the midterms as a fight to constrain the Trump administration.
“I look forward to being on the trail and helping folks where I can be helpful, but we have got to put a check on this lawless administration and deliver what Americans need and deserve,” Harris said. “So, I support them in doing whatever they need to do to win.”
Her recent public appearances have offered a preview of the arguments she is making while deciding where to put her political energy.
At the National Urban League Conference in Nashville, Harris endorsed reconsidering the Electoral College, expanding the Supreme Court to 13 seats and granting statehood to Puerto Rico and Washington, Fox News reported.
These are challenging times, but we are not powerless.
If our votes did not matter, they would not be working overtime to make them harder to cast.
This November, we will show them what happens when millions of Americans turn out in our numbers. pic.twitter.com/nsftER5T90
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 7, 2026
Apart from statehood for Washington, none of those positions had been part of her 2024 campaign.
“I know this is going to be controversial coming from me in particular, we need to revisit the electoral college,” Harris said.
“We need to revisit the point of expanding the court. We need to revisit, if they so want, statehood for Puerto Rico and DC.”
That same event put Harris on the spot when National Urban League President Marc Morial asked her to name the presidents she thought were most effective.
According to the New York Post, Harris began with Franklin Roosevelt before naming John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.
“Oh Marc, don’t make me do that,” Harris replied before discussing Roosevelt’s record.
“He, he appreciated that government has in my mind three essential functions, which is public health, public safety and public education,” she said.
Harris later mentioned Barack Obama, drawing applause for the 44th president and his push for the Affordable Care Act. Joe Biden did not make her list.
Biden selected Harris as his running mate and endorsed her after ending his own reelection bid 107 days before Election Day.
After losing the Electoral College and popular vote to President Donald Trump, Harris wrote in “107 Days” that Biden’s White House communications team had left her to absorb blame over the border.
Harris has also renewed her criticism of the SAVE America Act. In a video she posted on X that Trump later shared on Truth Social, she said the bill’s proof-of-citizenship requirement would make registering to vote more difficult.
She pointed to passports and birth certificates as documents people would need to provide.
The SAVE America Act also accepts certain REAL ID-compliant identification and qualifying military identification. It directs states to provide a review process for people who cannot produce the specified documents and instead submit other evidence of citizenship.
On foreign policy, Harris criticized Trump’s war with Iran and a potential peace agreement, comparing the possible deal with one negotiated by Obama a decade earlier.
“The deal would basically be what Barack Obama got,” Harris said. “I think that it’s important to not be a conspiracist, but you can listen to what people are saying. And wonder. Is it just a full on distraction from the things he can’t handle or has not handled?”
Harris said she would have opposed war with Iran and would not have struck Tehran even if Congress had authorized it.
Asked whether she would run for president again in 2028, Harris said, “I have not made a decision. I am fully, sincerely, focused on these midterms.”
