In recent months, Kamala Harris has been promoting her book, 107 Days, and undertaking a national speaking tour. Last month, she made national and international news when she said that she was “thinking about” running for president again in 2028. When Rev. Al Sharpton asked her if she would run again, she said: “I might. I served for four years being a heartbeat away from the presidency of the United States. I spent countless hours in my West Wing office, footsteps away from the Oval Office. I spent countless hours in the Oval Office and the Situation Room. I know what the job is, and I know what it requires.” The book promotion and speaking tour also says, to me, that she’s keeping her options open and that she’s actively considering what she needs and what the Democratic Party needs and what the voters need. Well, since everyone’s reading tea leaves, this seems significant too: Kamala and Doug just bought a place out in Malibu.

Kamala Harris’ new $8.15 million Malibu home sits on a hill overlooking bougainvillea-dusted streets that sweep down toward the surf — a secluded idyll in a neighborhood of defensive shrubbery and eccentric statuary, where surveillance cameras swivel and the quiet feels carefully curated. It is, in other words, the perfect place to get away for a while. Which is exactly how many of her new neighbors see it, too.

Amid all the speculation about whether Harris will again run for president, her move is regarded here — in her new celebrity-laden enclave — not as a launching pad, but as a sign of retreat.

“People usually come to Point Dume to try to downshift,” said Or Brodsky, the listing agent on a nearly 12,000-square-foot rental near Harris’ new digs — yours for $69,500 a month. “I think she’s planning to have more days with her feet in the sand.”

Harris, despite her defeat in 2024, is polling at or near the top of Democratic presidential primary surveys. She has said she is “thinking about” running again and has kept herself visible, drawing sold-out crowds on her book tour and headlining a political fundraiser next month in Nevada, a key swing state. People close to Harris say she’s genuinely undecided, and political professionals hardly see a home purchase as evidence of a decision either way.

“I think there’s honesty regarding the idea that they’re still very much thinking about it,” said Marc Adelman, a political consultant whose clients include entertainment industry figures and organizations. “She’s still in the game, actively. This idea that she bought the house, and therefore that negates the idea that she’s running — I just don’t buy that.”

But in Malibu, few see it that way. When the former vice president bought the 4,000-square-foot home in the Point Dume neighborhood in December, she joined an exclusive community where Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Anthony Kiedis, Sergey Brin, Julia Roberts and King Abdullah II of Jordan have also owned houses. Walking the streets of this tony haven bracketed by the Pacific Ocean and the highway that bears its name, it is hard to find anyone — residents, tradespeople or tourists — who can imagine a future for Harris in the White House.

For one thing, as they see it, sitting out the 2028 race would give Harris, 61, time to enjoy her new home’s many amenities, among them panoramic ocean views and a private putting green.

“This is probably where people move out to when they are done with the height of their career,” said Seth Findley, a Point Dume visitor — and Harris voter in 2024 — who cradled a Chuck Palahniuk book not far from her gated four-bedroom house. “I was thinking of actors or musicians. I guess politics, too.”

And then there are the optics. If Harris were to run, her multimillion-dollar house could prove a liability, several political consultants said, with its luxury features — among them a cold plunge and sauna — inviting attacks that she’s a wealthy, out-of-touch elite.

[From Politico]

“And then there are the optics” – Jesus wept. The current demented buffoon ripped down a significant part of the White House to build a fakakta ballroom, and he keeps classified material stored in the bathrooms of his PDF-File paradise golf-and-spa resort which Jeffrey Epstein used as a hunting ground. “But Kamala has a beach house,” they cried. I’m glad she and Doug bought a beach house! She can look out at the ocean as she roasts chicken for Dougie and plots her political comeback.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.