Kamala Harris teased a major announcement on Wednesday night, prompting speculation from supporters and critics alike on what her next move could be. She announced the "good news" Thursday morning: She's partnering with a George Soros-funded left-wing nonprofit to rebrand her failed presidential campaign's social media accounts, or, as Harris put it, create a "Gen-Z led progressive content hub."
The project is called Headquarters, a rebranding of Harris's campaign social media accounts, which operated under the @KamalaHQ handle. "It's where you can go online to get basically the latest of what's going on and also meet and revisit with some of our great courageous leaders," Harris said in a highly anticipated announcement on Thursday.
It's aimed at "mobiliz[ing] pro-justice, pro-fairness, pro-democracy young people against far-right extremism," said People For the American Way, the liberal advocacy group partnering with Harris, who will serve an "honorary role" with the organization.
People For the American Way is funded by some of the country's largest left-wing advocacy groups, as well as the philanthropies of celebrities like Barbra Streisand. Actor Alec Baldwin, who killed a cinematographer on a movie set in 2021, is listed as a board member for the nonprofit on its 2024 tax filings.
George Soros's Open Society Foundations has given $4.5 million to People For the American Way since 2016 to "support nonpartisan civic engagement," according to grant records. The Ford Foundation, another left-wing charity, gave $200,000 to the group in 2024 to provide "core support for the defend the black vote initiative" and to help "turnout low propensity black voters."
The announcement may come as a letdown for both Harris's supporters and critics. Harris's social media account published a teaser video on Wednesday about an upcoming announcement. The video has garnered 9 million views so far.
Harris's most passionate supporters, known as the KHive, expressed glee at the prospect of Harris mounting another presidential bid. As did many conservatives who, citing Harris's poor showing in 2024, want her to run again in 2028.
Democratic party leaders and donors may be breathing a sigh of relief that Harris is merely launching a Gen-Z content hub. Many from both groups have criticized Harris for blowing $1.5 billion in campaign donations in less than four months on the campaign trail in 2024. James Carville, the longtime adviser to Bill Clinton, has called Harris the equivalent of a football team's "seventh-string quarterback."
Harris will serve as chair emerita of Headquarters, an "honorary role," according to People For the American Way. And she'll bring along several campaign aides, including Rob Flaherty, a deputy campaign manager for Harris who also served in high-level homeland security roles for the Biden-Harris White House.
Parker Butler, Lauren Kapp, and Arlie Shugaar, the team behind Harris's social media account, @KamalaHQ, will also join the project.
The operatives behind that account made a series of flubs during the 2024 campaign. They posted a video in August 2024 of vice presidential nominee Tim Walz talking about guns that he "carried in war." Walz never saw combat during his stint in the National Guard and served mostly in Italy, Norway, and Minnesota, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
It is not exactly clear what duties Harris will perform at Headquarters, which is using the social media handle @headquarters_67, an apparent reference to the viral children's meme that adults have described as "annoying" and "a plague."
"Harris' role is ex-officio, and she will not maintain editorial oversight of the project," said People For the American Way. All of its "programmatic decisions" will be made by Headquarters and the leaders of People For the American Way.
That will include operations of the social media account, as well as oversight of its YouTube and Substack accounts.
