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Kamala Harris Has Scrambled the California Governor’s Race Without Entering It

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Kamala Harris Has Scrambled the California Governor’s Race Without Entering It

In a different scenario, the governor’s race in California would already have taken shape. Aspiring candidates would have been making appearances around the state. Donors would have begun bankrolling their favorites, and organizations would have started to announce endorsements.

Instead, Kamala Harris came home.

The former vice president, after a stinging defeat in the presidential race last year, has shaken up the 2026 governor’s race by her mere presence in California. Speculation has grown each week since her return from Washington: Will she or won’t she enter the race?

After flying back to Los Angeles last month, Ms. Harris has stood with firefighters in Altadena, greeted evacuees at a Red Cross shelter and toured fire damage in Pacific Palisades. During her most recent stop, she did little to quell speculation.

“I am here, and would be here, regardless of the office I hold, because it is the right thing to do,” Ms. Harris said when reporters pressed her about whether she was running for governor.

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The possibility has made it difficult for most other Democrats to move forward, realizing that any calculations they make now would be upended if Ms. Harris entered the race . The 2026 contest to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, who cannot run again because of term limits, is currently populated by lesser-known aspirants, many of whom likely would step aside if Ms. Harris decided to run.

“She hasn’t frozen the field, but definitely made it icy enough to force everyone to slow down and watch their step,” said Dan Newman, a Democratic strategist who advised Mr. Newsom during his campaigns for governor.

Ms. Harris is weighing whether to run for governor next year, run for president in 2028 or pursue a role outside of elected office, according to a person with knowledge of her deliberations. She has put together an advisory team that includes former White House staff, veteran Democratic strategists, policy experts, a speechwriter and a fund-raiser.

Running for governor might seem to be a step down for someone who served four years as the vice president and was the Democratic nominee for president. But by doing so, Ms. Harris would avoid the competitive slog of a presidential primary and have a strong chance to lead the nation’s most populous state with the help of fellow Democrats who control the legislature. Ms. Harris has won in California every time she’s been on the statewide ballot — as a candidate for president, vice president, senator and attorney general.

By this point eight years ago, the last time California had an open governor’s seat, the major Democratic candidates had fully launched their campaigns and Mr. Newsom had emerged as the front-runner in polls. Though the primary election is still 16 months away, it takes longer in California than elsewhere for candidates to raise money and become known to voters across a vast state with expensive media markets.

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So far, the declared Democratic candidates include the lieutenant governor, the schools superintendent, a former mayor of Los Angeles, a former state controller and a former legislative leader. Though they’ve begun to raise money and seek endorsements, they are little-known to voters, making the race an unpredictable free-for-all.

Eleni Kounalakis, the lieutenant governor, was the first to jump into the governor’s race when she declared her candidacy in April 2023. At the time, the possibility that Ms. Harris might enter the race was on few minds.

Because Ms. Kounalakis and Ms. Harris have been friends for more than two decades, it’s difficult to imagine them running against each other. Their friendship dates back to when Ms. Harris was the San Francisco district attorney and Ms. Kounalakis was running her family’s home-building company in the same city, “both young women, trying to navigate the halls of power,” Ms. Kounalakis said in a speech at the Democratic National Convention. Ms. Kounalakis was not available for comment.

While most Democrats are in wait-and-see mode, the prospect of Ms. Harris’s entry seems to have energized some Republicans. Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County, launched his campaign on Monday. Republican Steve Hilton, a Fox News commentator and former adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron, who lives in Silicon Valley, is also weighing a run. And Richard Grenell, who has a home in Manhattan Beach, Calif., and is President Trump’s envoy for special missions, said last week that he would consider running for California governor — if Ms. Harris gets into the race.

Such candidates would face long odds in a state that has not elected a Republican to statewide office since 2006, when voters re-elected Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor. But Republicans believe competing against Ms. Harris, especially after her loss to President Trump, could energize their supporters and attract more donations.

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“She would be a very enticing opponent to Republicans,” said Matt Shupe, a campaign strategist who is advising Mr. Hilton.

If Ms. Harris does run, it would be a rare move for someone who came so close to the presidency. Only four vice presidents have run for governor, and one dropped out to support another candidate, according to Joel Goldstein, an emeritus law professor at Saint Louis University who has studied the history of vice presidents.

In 1804, Aaron Burr lost his race for governor of New York, an outcome that he blamed on Alexander Hamilton before he shot Mr. Hamilton dead in their famous duel. In 1894, Levi Morton, the vice president under President Benjamin Harrison, won the New York governor’s race.

The most direct parallel, however, was Richard Nixon. In 1960, Mr. Nixon, then the Republican vice president, lost the presidential race to John F. Kennedy. He returned home to Southern California and ran for governor in 1962.

Mr. Nixon adjusted to the parochial nature of a governor’s race and pledged to visit every county in the state, according to news accounts. He signed autographs in the rain in the Sierra Nevada foothills, posed for photos with “coonskin capped” mountain men and played piano for potato farmers near the Oregon border, The Los Angeles Times reported in February 1962.

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In the 2026 governor’s race, some prominent Democrats have yet to announce their intentions as Ms. Harris weighs her decision.

Katie Porter, the former congresswoman known for viral moments in which she grilled executives with her whiteboard on Capitol Hill, has made several trips to Sacramento in recent weeks to meet with labor leaders and others who are influential in Democratic politics — indications that she has been laying the groundwork to get in the race. But she also has suggested that she and others would be unlikely to take on Ms. Harris.

“If Vice President Harris were to choose to run, I am certain that that would have a near field-clearing effect on the Democratic side,” Ms. Porter said at a post-election discussion in December.

Another Democratic leader has decided to forego the governor’s race. Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general, had been considering a run but announced this month that he will instead seek re-election as the state’s top lawyer and will support Ms. Harris if she runs for governor.

Not every Democrat would scatter. Two candidates who are positioning themselves as business-friendly moderates said that they will stay in the race even if Ms. Harris jumps in. Antonio Villaraigosa, a former Los Angeles mayor who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2018 and now works for the cryptocurrency company Coinbase, said that he’s running again because too many Californians are struggling with the cost of living.

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“Because nothing has changed for them, nothing has changed for me,” Mr. Villaraigosa said.

Stephen Cloobeck, a real estate developer who has given his campaign $3 million, said Ms. Harris’s time in Washington has left her disconnected from California voters.“I welcome her entering the race if she decides to do that,” he said.

It is not clear when Ms. Harris might make a decision.

Lorena Gonzalez, the president of the California Labor Federation and a former Democratic state lawmaker, said that the prospect of Ms. Harris’s entry has “slowed everything down.”

The labor federation has invited candidates for governor to speak to union members at an event in May to begin considering an endorsement.

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“We never thought that would look too early,” Gonzalez said. “But now it seems like it might be.”

In 1962, the last time a vice president came home to run for governor, Mr. Nixon lost to Edmund G. “Pat” Brown, the Democratic incumbent.

It was that defeat that led Mr. Nixon to tell reporters, “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.”

Six years later, he was elected president.

Orlando Mayorquín and Jesus Jiménez contributed reporting. Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

Three more people have been criminally charged with destruction of property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Officers say they detained Cameron Thiers, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Justin Carreno one Saturday afternoon in June and described in court documents witnessing them peeling and removing pieces of blue paint from the Reflecting Pool.

One officer “witnessed Carreno reach down into the reflecting pool and pull up a piece of the blue paint,” according to the court documents.

The officer who detained Dennison-Gibby “found 1 additional piece of the reflecting pool liner” in her purse, the documents said.

All three incidents were recorded on the officers’ body worn cameras, they said in the court documents.

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Several “partnering law enforcement agencies assigned to the Reflecting Pool” working with US Park Police were involved in detaining the two men and one woman — including officers from Texas, Oklahoma, Montana and California.

One of the officers said in court documents that Thiers “admitted to removing a piece of blue sealant from the Reflecting Pool and still had it in his hand when I made contact with him.”

The three defendants were arraigned in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges of destruction of property with a value less than $1,000. The judge ordered them to stay away from the Reflecting Pool.

Lawyers for Thiers and Dennison-Gibby declined to comment. CNN has reached out to Carreno’s attorney.

If found guilty of destruction of property, the defendants could be fined up to $1,000 and face a maximum of 180 days behind bars.

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The New York Times first reported that three additional people had been charged with damaging the Reflecting Pool.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that vandals caused major damage to the pool by gashing the lining after his administration spent more than $14 million on renovations, though he has not provided evidence to support that claim. The officers who charged Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby did not accuse them of gashing the lining.

Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, DC, last week for allegedly damaging the Reflecting Pool. Hearn — unlike Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby – was charged with destruction of property with a value of more than $1,000 which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted. He is set to be arraigned in court Thursday.

Crews began draining the Reflecting Pool over the weekend to make repairs, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, for the second time in three months.

The move comes after weeks of problems – algae blooms, green-hued water, a chipping bottom and the administration’s allegations of vandalism – that have plagued the iconic landmark, making its woes the subject of national interest.

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Supreme Court financial disclosures reveal how their books add to their income

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Supreme Court financial disclosures reveal how their books add to their income

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett speaks at the Reagan Library on Sept. 9, 2025, in Simi Valley, Calif. Barrett discussed and signed copies of her new book, Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution.

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Even as the Supreme Court was handing down one legal thunderbolt after another last week, the justices were quietly releasing their annual financial reports. Justice Samuel Alito was the only sitting justice to request an extension, which he has done for 15 years. The disclosures do not give a complete account of the justices’ total income and wealth, but they give insights into their concertgoing, guest professorships and even their involvement in youth sports.

In addition to their salaries, much of the justices’ reported income came from their book deals. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson led the pack earning more than $1.1 million last year for a total of roughly $4 million since her memoir, Lovely One, was published in 2024.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and retired Justice Anthony Kennedy also reported income from published books. Earnings from their books ranged from $849,000 for Barrett, to $300,000 for Gorsuch and $88,000 for Sotomayor, whose books include her 2013 autobiography and five children’s books. Justice Clarence Thomas, who previously earned $1.5 million for his 2007 memoir, listed no publisher payments last year, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one of 13 co-authors of a 2016 legal treatise, also received no payments last year. Kavanaugh is said to be working on a memoir but he listed no payments for the anticipated book. Alito does have a book coming out in the fall, but with his financial report still outstanding, there is no data on how much he was paid for the work in 2025.

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The only two sitting justices who have not written books are Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan.

Many justices also earned income from teaching at law schools. Roberts reported income from New England Law, located in Boston, and Gorsuch reported teaching income from George Mason University in Virginia. Thomas taught classes at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and Barrett and Kavanaugh taught at Notre Dame Law School. Barrett graduated from the school and began teaching there 23 years ago; Kavanaugh has family connections to Notre Dame.

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Manhattan Building’s Columns Buckled Beneath New Addition, Images Show

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Manhattan Building’s Columns Buckled Beneath New Addition, Images Show

At least two structural columns buckled and failed in a 37-story office tower in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday, prompting evacuations of nearby streets and buildings. While city officials asserted that the tower was in no danger of collapsing completely, outside engineers said further failures in the structure could not be ruled out.

A pair of columns that failed completely were part of the tower’s existing structure. A New York Times review of images and videos from inside the building has found that several floors were added atop these columns.

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City officials said in a news conference on Tuesday that the building was continuing to move, while they simultaneously assured the city that the building would not suffer “total collapse.” “The way this building is constructed, it’s a steel-frame building,” John Esposito, a chief in the Fire Department in New York, said at the afternoon news conference. “So, it would not be a total collapse. It would be more of a localized collapse.” Still, he said, “that remains our concern, that it’s moved.”

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Engineers said that the movement itself was cause for concern. In a properly designed steel building, they said, loads should redistribute quickly to surviving structural supports if columns failed.

Joe DiPompeo, a former president of the Structural Engineering Institute at the American Society of Civil Engineers, said that if the structure had been overloaded, he would expect any movement “to happen very quickly,” rather than gradually.

“Generally when a column buckles, it’s a sudden failure,” Mr. DiPompeo said. He said that a full collapse remained unlikely given the redundancies built into the building codes.

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Engineers often refer to the most dangerous possibility as a progressive collapse, a process in which structures near the initial failure become overstressed and also fail, potentially bringing down the building if the sequence continues. While unlikely, it cannot be ruled out, Mr. DiPompeo said.

Footage recorded from inside the building shows at least two structural columns appear to have failed completely, Mr. DiPompeo said. Other nonstructural, interior walls — or at least the metal “studs” that were in place to hold them up — also appear to have deformed.

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“The only way that really happens is if the floor above them dropped. It looks like the floor above could have dropped a foot or two, which is obviously not a good situation,” Mr. DiPompeo said.

@fernando40tiktok.commarc via Storyful

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Image from @fernando40tiktok.commarc via Storyful

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Image from @Bogs4NY via X

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The 37-story building is in the process of being converted from office space into residential units. Four new floors and a large vertical portion were added onto the existing building in recent months. The vertical portion consists of a stack of over a dozen new floors cantilevered out over the existing building below.

Engineers said that there was nothing inherently wrong with adding residential floors or the cantilevered section above the columns that failed, as long as the original structure and the modifications had properly accounted for the added weight and wind loads.

“The cantilever alone doesn’t change anything,” Mr. DiPompeo said, but it does put additional load on the columns underneath — a factor that should have been reflected in the design.

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Nathan Berman, managing principal and founder of MetroLoft, the developer overseeing the conversion, said on Tuesday that “this incident is nothing more than a typical construction mishap.”

He said two columns near the northwest corner of the tower had bent under the weight of additions to the building above, most likely because those columns had not been properly reinforced, though he said an investigation would determine the cause. The rest of the columns, he said, “picked up the weight.” He estimated the affected floors above the failed columns had sagged by a maximum of four inches.

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Mr. Berman said that he expected the problems to be fixed and the project to be completed with, at most, a slight delay.

On Tuesday evening, installation of temporary shoring was set to begin shortly, in order to help stabilize the 20th and 21st floors of the building.

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