Former Vice President Kamala Harris kept the race for California governor on hold. Her potential presence had that much influence.

Harris, however, put an end to any thoughts of her running to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom last week.

In the process, she essentially set all the other candidates in motion to grab momentum and establish themselves atop the pack of hopefuls.

Already, there is no shortage of candidates who have launched gubernatorial bids. The field includes a diverse array of contenders — in terms of backgrounds and experiences — especially among Democrats.

But without Harris, at this stage in the campaign, there is no clear frontrunner in the race, political experts said.

“This is the most wide-open governor’s race that California has seen in modern history,” said Dan Schnur, who teaches political messaging at USC and UC Berkeley. “There is no precedent in the digital era, or even in the time since cable television was invented, that there has been such a lack of a clear frontrunner.”

Still, Harris’ decision to stay away from the race has given some candidates a bit of a momentum boost.

Former Rep. Katie Porter’s campaign said she raised more than $250,000 in the 36 hours following Harris’ announcement. The Orange County Democrat’s campaign has sent out a bevy of fundraising emails in recent days, tying Porter’s record to Harris’ and sharing polling from March that shows her leading the field of Democrats without the former vice president in consideration.

And there’s Xavier Becerra, who, without Harris, can boast the most executive branch experience in the field. Becerra, with a long resume in California politics, served as the U.S. health secretary during the Biden administration.

Still, other candidates have more experience getting elected to statewide offices: Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis (who got some recent praise from former Speaker Nancy Pelosi), State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and former Controller Betty Yee.

But at this stage, there is no candidate who can say it’s their race to lose, experts said.

And that means there’s an opportunity voters could see a real competition play out in the race for governor, particularly among Democrats, said Matt Lesenyie, an expert in California politics who teaches at Cal State Long Beach.

So in the meantime, there are a few storylines politicos are considering as the race unfolds.

Pathway for Republicans

Since 2012, the top two vote-getters in California primary races for certain state and federal offices, including governor, have advanced to the general election, despite the political parties.

Even so, California voters have picked one Democrat and one Republican to move to the general election for governor every time.

“In the open primary era, Republicans have gotten very good at getting a candidate in the top two in the spring, and then they’ve gotten very good at losing in the fall,” said Schnur, adding, “It’s unlikely we’ll see either of those trends changing.”

Democrats will certainly need to keep that in mind as the contest among their candidates heats up, said Sarah Hill, who teaches political science at Cal State Fullerton.

“What Democrats can do is split their votes so much that if Republicans only have a couple of people seriously running, they could easily get more votes and sneak into the general election,” Hill said. “The party is going to have to pay attention and pretty quickly signal to voters who they should focus on.”

Republicans, thus far, have Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and former Fox News host Steve Hilton vying for the race.

Bianco’s campaign this week boasted strong fundraising numbers, while Hilton’s boasted his travels to various counties around California.

Both celebrated Harris’ news that she was staying out of the race, but did so by criticizing her past leadership in various elected offices in California.

Porter’s next steps

While hesitant to call her a flat-out frontrunner, several experts said Porter has certainly emerged at the head of the crowded field.

“If Katie Porter ends up becoming the governor, it’s going to be because of what she does at this point going forward, not because of what she’s done up until now,” said Schnur.

A progressive darling known for going toe-to-toe with large corporations during her congressional tenure, Porter embraced that “Bernie Sanders” wing of the party during her recent, unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate, Schnur noted.

“She’s already established herself as a very strong anti-Trump progressive voice. The question is whether she’s able to develop or articulate a broader message in this campaign than she did last year,” said Schnur.

“That doesn’t mean she needs to become more moderate, but rather that she needs to find a way to appeal to more moderate voters,” he said.

Porter has established a bit of a unique brand, said Cal State Long Beach’s Lesenyie. He said she should keep a similar identity — a working mom who understands the price of groceries — rather than change completely if she wants to be successful this go-round.

“I wouldn’t give that up,” he said. “That would be like telling McDonald’s to change the recipe.”

A diverse pipeline

Something else about the field of gubernatorial candidates, rather than the lack of a clear frontrunner, stuck out to Hill: a lack of White men running.

“It’s almost all women and/or people of color who are running,” Hill pointed out. “Are we finally going to have something different?”

Is it time, she said, for California to choose its first female governor?

“That’s really interesting if you look at the very diverse pipeline that the Democratic Party has been building up over the last 15 years,” she said.

But the diverse field could complicate some candidates, said Schnur, pointing specifically to Becerra and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

“Villaraigosa and Becerra are much more complicated candidates than their identity alone,” Schnur said, “but it’s no question that two prominent Latinos in the race make it harder for both of them.”

Either one has the ability to propel to the front of the gubernatorial pack, Schnur said, “but it’s going to be much harder for them as long as the other is in the race.”

‘Schwarzenegger effect’

In 2003, California voters recalled Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, replacing him with a Republican who had very little political experience but very high name ID: movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The campaign was only 11 weeks.

The current gubernatorial race is ripe for another similar situation, “the Schwarzenegger effect,” said Lesenyie.

“If I were any of those candidates, I’d be worried that a celebrity, a George Clooney, jumps in, who has no experience but has instant name recognition and can self-fund their campaign.”

The uncertainty shrouding the California governor race is exciting, at least for some.

“As political scientists, it’s fun,” said Hill. “This is what we like to watch.”