Donald Trump loyalist Ric Grenell says he would “have to” strongly consider running for California governor in 2026 if former vice-president Kamala Harris signs up to campaign for the position.
Grenell – a foreign policy adviser to the president and the interim director of Washington DC’s John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts – made the remark during an interview airing Sunday on the Politico podcast The Conversation with Dasha Burns.
“If Kamala runs, I think there’s a whole bunch of Republicans who are going to have to look at it – not just me,” Grenell said to Burns in preview materials published ahead of the interview. “If she runs, it is going to make me have to take a look at it.”
Grenell told Burns, “Right now, I’m not running for governor” – but he did say he had recently spoken to Trump about entering the race. He declined to share details about the conversation, which he brought up as Trump vocally criticized California governor Gavin Newsom’s response to anti-immigration and customs enforcement (Ice) protests in Los Angeles.
Newsom, who is not running for re-election because of term limits, has since sued Trump over his decision to send in military personnel to LA amid the Ice protests.
Politico reported in March that Harris was weighing a run to succeed Newsom, her fellow Democrat, after she lost the presidential election in November to Trump. Citing sources close to her, the outlet added that Harris – a former US senator for California – was giving herself until the end of the summer to make a final decision.
California’s Republicans “would love” Harris to run for governor because they believe it might vault the race into the national conversation and “create a fundraising bonanza” that could benefit them in what is otherwise a staunchly Democratic state, Politico has also written.
Grenell has a home in the LA area. He has previously been an ambassador to Germany, acting director of national intelligence and Trump’s envoy for special missions. He was more recently involved in securing the release of Americans detained in Venezuela. And, in February, Trump made him the interim director of the Kennedy Center.
In his talk with Burns, Grenell also addressed the mixed reaction that greeted Trump Wednesday when he attended a performance of Les Misérables at the Kennedy Center.
Grenell maintained that the Kennedy Center is “much more tolerant” nowadays despite boos being directed at Trump on Wednesday, when he also got some cheers.
“We want people here who sit next to each other, who voted for somebody completely different for president,” Grenell, the first openly gay person to lead the US intelligence community, said to Burns. “No one gets vocal and no one gets into an argument because we’re watching Les Mis.
“You know – that’s the whole idea of tolerance.”
