Former Vice President Kamala Harris made her highly anticipated return to the public stage Wednesday in San Francisco, delivering her first major speech since losing the 2024 presidential election to President Trump in the city where her political rise began.

But Trump’s critics are many in deep-blue California, which is so far suing the federal government at nearly twice the clip of the Republican’s first term. More than the substance of her speech, Harris’ high-profile appearance landed her back in the spotlight and continued to speculation about her political future.

We are living in a moment when the checks and balances upon which we have historically relied have begun to buckle,’ Harris said.