Kamala Harris held an extended private phone call last week with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialists of America standard-bearer who describes Israeli policies toward Palestinians as apartheid and genocide, in what political strategists from both parties describe as early positioning for the 2028 Democratic presidential primary. The call, first reported by Axios, focused on what both sides described as "the future of the Democratic Party" and is expected to be the first in a longer series of discussions between the former vice president and the most prominent DSA-elected official in America.
Neither Harris nor Mamdani's representatives publicly commented on the call, per Axios. But Mamdani later confirmed the conversation on SiriusXM's "The Clay Cane Show," as Fox News reported.
"The vice president reached out to have a conversation, and we've had a brief conversation. We've been in touch over the last few months, and I really do appreciate her outreach."
That statement from Mamdani tells you more than any anonymous leak could. Harris didn't just pick up the phone once. She has been cultivating a relationship with a mayor who strongly supports the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel, who won office on a DSA ticket, and whose political machine just toppled two sitting Democratic members of Congress in New York City primaries.
For conservative voters watching from the sidelines, the picture is clear enough: the woman who lost the 2024 presidential race is now courting the socialist wing of her party, and doing so deliberately, methodically, and early.
The timing of Harris's outreach is no accident. DSA-backed candidates recently scored victories in three New York City congressional primaries, unseating incumbent Reps. Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat. In Washington, D.C., DSA member Janeese Lewis George won the Democratic mayoral primary. In Colorado, political newcomer Melat Kiros, described as a democratic socialist, defeated 15-term Rep. Diana DeGette in the Democratic primary, positioning herself to become the first Gen Z woman elected to Congress.
And in Los Angeles, DSA-aligned City Councilmember Nithya Raman is running for mayor against incumbent Karen Bass.
Strategist Matt Klink framed the pattern bluntly. Harris, he said, is "kissing the ring" with her Mamdani outreach because the mayor is the most high-profile DSA leader in the country. Mamdani's primary wins, Klink argued, proved that the DSA machine can deliver election results well beyond Brooklyn. As New York Attorney General Letitia James has noted, Mamdani's rise has deepened an already serious rift inside the Democratic Party in New York.
"Harris read that scoreboard faster than most: the activists have the passion, the money, and the primary voters, and she wants all three."
That's Klink's assessment, and it tracks with what the numbers show. A Center Square Voters' Voice Poll published last month put Harris at 27 percent support among Democratic voters for the 2028 nomination, nearly double the 14 percent earned by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is publicly weighing his own run as he finishes his final gubernatorial term.
Harris leads the field. But she is building from a position of weakness, not strength. Her 2024 campaign struggled badly to win over Arab American and progressive voters after she declined to distance herself meaningfully from President Joe Biden's staunch support for Israel. That failure cost her turnout and enthusiasm in key states. She appears determined not to repeat the mistake.
The Mamdani call is only the most visible piece of a broader effort. Harris has spent months meeting privately with left-wing organizers, including figures connected to the pro-Palestinian Uncommitted Movement. She has held discussions with longtime Democratic National Committee member James Zogby and Michigan Democrat Abbas Alawieh, who urged Harris to oppose the use of U.S. tax dollars to harm civilians or destroy communities. Alawieh shared accounts from constituents whose relatives were killed in Israeli airstrikes backed by American military assistance.
Newsmax reported that Harris's outreach extends to other progressive figures, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as she lays groundwork for a possible White House bid. An unnamed Democratic fundraiser told the Los Angeles Times there is "an enormous appetite for new blood" in the party.
Harris has also been careful with her public positioning on Mamdani himself. She withheld her endorsement in the New York City mayoral race until after the Democratic primary, then offered a measured nod during an MSNBC interview. Her exact words: "I support the Democrat in the race, sure." Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but enough to keep the door open.
That calculated ambiguity is the strategy in miniature. Harris wants the activist energy without the political liability. As she has signaled at events like the Sharpton convention, she is actively testing the waters for 2028 while trying to avoid the pitfalls that sank her last campaign.
Republican consultant Mike Madrid, who has advised on presidential campaigns, sees Harris's maneuver as a calculated gamble with serious risks. The outreach, he said, reflects how rapidly the Democratic Party's internal dynamics have shifted on Israel and Palestine.
"This is about positioning for the 2028 primary where no candidate knows where the lane for support for Palestinian rights is going to be but they know there's going to be one."
Madrid also offered a warning that should interest anyone watching the broader trajectory of the Democratic Party.
"There's definitely an emerging split in the party that's very reminiscent of the Tea Party extremism that consumed the GOP a decade ago."
That comparison cuts in a particular direction. The Tea Party pushed Republican primaries rightward and sometimes produced nominees who couldn't win general elections. Madrid sees a parallel dynamic forming on the left, with DSA-backed candidates winning primaries in deep-blue districts but potentially creating vulnerabilities in competitive races.
Klink was even more direct about the strategic problem. Chasing the activist left to win a primary, he said, "is a time-honored Democratic tradition that consistently creates general election problems." Harris, Klink argued, is gambling that she can consolidate the progressive base early, bottle their enthusiasm, and then pivot to the center if she secures the nomination.
"It's a flawed strategy with a notably poor track record."
That assessment gains weight when you consider the specifics of what Harris is embracing. Mamdani is not a moderate progressive. He describes Israeli policy as genocide. He is a BDS advocate. Born in Kampala, Uganda, to Indian-origin parents, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2018, which means he is constitutionally ineligible for the vice presidency under Article II, Section 1 and the Twelfth Amendment, a point National Review's Jim Geraghty noted while questioning whether the entire alignment makes political sense.
Klink nevertheless described the notion of a Harris-Mamdani ticket as something that "isn't too far fetched", though the constitutional barrier would make it impossible in practice. The point is less about a literal ticket than about the political direction Harris is signaling.
Harris is not the only Democrat recalibrating. Newsom briefly described Israel as an "apartheid state" earlier in 2026 before saying he regretted the wording. He reaffirmed support for Israel and shifted his criticism to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rather than the Israeli state itself. The rhetorical dance illustrates the same pressure Harris faces: the progressive base demands sharper language, but the general electorate punishes it.
Other potential 2028 contenders, Pete Buttigieg, Josh Shapiro, Andy Beshear, and J.B. Pritzker, are watching from various distances. As recent polling has shown, the Democratic primary field remains fluid and competitive, with Harris's lead far from locked in.
Klink captured the dynamic facing every one of them:
"Every serious 2028 Democrat presidential contender is watching Harris and taking notes. The candidate who figures out how to embrace the activist energy without getting photographed at the wrong rally will have a real advantage in what will be a crowded Democrat primary."
Madrid offered a partial counterpoint, noting that DSA wins do not tell the whole story of Democratic primary politics. "For every DSA win, there's a Talarico and Becerra win," he said, a reference to non-DSA Democrats who have also prevailed in recent contests. Madrid added that Harris's move is risky but reflects a broader reality: "No question this is a risky move but it's one transforming both parties and the calculus at the moment has become it's better to do something than nothing."
RNC Chair Joe Gruters, for his part, saw the outreach as a gift to Republicans. "The fact that she's courting people like Mamdani, these socialists and communists, it goes back to the radical leftists, because the Democrats are in big trouble as a party," Gruters told Fox News.
Even some voices on the left have raised concerns. As at least one liberal columnist has warned, rallying behind Harris for 2028 may not serve the party's long-term interests, a sign that the doubts about her political instincts extend well beyond the Republican opposition.
Strip away the consultant jargon and the picture is straightforward. Harris lost in 2024 in part because the progressive base didn't trust her. Now she is spending months in private conversations with the very activists and organizers who sat on their hands or actively opposed her campaign. The Mamdani call is the most visible proof of that effort, a former vice president reaching out to a DSA mayor who backs BDS and calls Israeli policy genocide, all in the name of party unity and primary positioning.
The question isn't whether Harris is serious about running in 2028. She clearly is. The question is whether a party that needs its socialist wing to show up on Election Day can also win the suburbs, the swing states, and the voters who don't want their tax dollars funding a candidate who spent the pre-primary season courting the DSA.
When the price of admission to a Democratic presidential primary is a phone call with a mayor who calls Israel an apartheid state, the party has already told you where it's headed. The rest is just paperwork.
