After bruising election loss, what next for Kamala Harris?

Exactly two months after her election loss to Donald Trump, Vice-President Kamala Harris will preside over the certification of her own defeat.

As president of the Senate, on Monday she will stand at the House Speaker's rostrum to lead the counting of Electoral College votes, officially cementing her rival's triumph two weeks before he returns to the White House.

The circumstances are painful and awkward for a candidate who decried her opponent as an urgent threat to American democracy, but Harris aides insist she will conduct her constitutional and legal duty with seriousness and grace.

It is not the first time a losing candidate will lead the t session of Congress to count their opponent's presidential electors - Al Gore endured the indignity in 2001 and Richard Nixon in 1961.

But it's a fitting coda to an improbable election that saw Harris elevated from a back-up to the nation's oldest president to the Democratic standard bearer - whose fleeting campaign provided a jolt of hope to her party before a crushing loss exposed deep internal faultlines.

Harris and her team are now deliberating her second act, and weighing whether it includes another run for the White House in 2028 or pursuing a bid for the governor's mansion in her home state of California.

While recent Democratic candidates who lost elections - Al Gore, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton - have decided against seeking the presidency again, aides, allies and donors argue that the groundswell of Harris captured in her unsuccessful bid and the unusual circumstances of her condensed campaign proves there's still scope for her to seek the Oval Office.

They even point to Donald Trump's own circuitous political path - the former and future president's bookend wins in 2016 and 2024, despite losing as the incumbent in 2020.

But while many Democrats do not blame Harris for Trump's win, some - stung by a bruising loss that has called the party's strategy into question - are deeply sceptical of giving her another shot at the White House. A host of Democratic governors who coalesced behind the vice-president in 2024 but have ambitions of their own are seen by some strategists as fresher candidates with a much better chance of winning.

Harris herself is said to be in no rush to make any decisions, telling advisers and ers she is open to all the possibilities that await her after Inauguration Day on 20 January.

She is assessing the last few months, which saw her launch an entirely new White House campaign, vet a running-mate, lead a party convention and barnstorm the country in just 107 days. And aides point out that she remains the US vice-president, at least for another two weeks.

"She has a decision to make and you can't make it when you're still on the treill. It may have slowed down – but she's on the treill until 20 January," said Donna Brazile, a close Harris ally who advised the campaign.

"You can't put anyone in a box. We didn't put Al Gore in a box and it was obvious the country was very divided after the 2000 election," said Brazile, who ran Gore's campaign against George W Bush and pointed to his second life as an environmental activist. "All options are on the table because there's an appetite for change and I do believe that she can represent that change in the future."

But the nagging question that shadows any potential 2028 run is whether the 60-year-old can separate herself from Joe Biden - something she failed to do in the election campaign.

Her allies in the party say that Biden's choice to seek re-election despite worries about his age, only then to ultimately drop out of the race with months to go, doomed her candidacy.

Though Trump swept all seven battleground states and is the first Republican in 20 years to win the popular vote, his margin of victory was relatively narrow while Harris still won 75 million votes, an outcome her ers argue can't be ignored as a currently faceless Democratic party rebuilds over the next four years.

On the other side, those close to Biden remain convinced he could have defeated Trump again, despite surveys showing he had been bleeding from key Democratic voting blocs.

They point out that Harris fell short where the president didn't in 2020, underperforming with core Democratic groups like black and Latino voters. Critics continue to bring up her 2019 campaign to become the Democratic presidential nominee, which sputtered out in less than a year.

"People forget that had there been a real primary [in 2024], she never would have been the nominee. Everyone knows that," said one former Biden adviser.

The adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, applauded Harris for reviving the Democratic base and helping key congressional races, but said Trump's campaign successfully undercut her on critical campaign issues including the economy and the border.

of Trump's team, however, including his chief pollster, have acknowledged that Harris performed stronger as a candidate than Biden on certain issues like the economy among voters.

Yet there's no escaping that any Democratic primary contest for 2028 would be a tough fight, with rising stars like Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and California Governor Gavin Newsom already weighing presidential runs.

Some Democrats say that Harris would nonetheless start ahead of the pack, with national name recognition, a much-coveted mailing list and a deep bench of volunteers.

"What state party would not want her to come help them set the table for the 2026 midterm elections">Republicans have won control of both chambers of Congress, yielding Trump limited congressional oversight for at least 2 years.