As rising stars in the California Democratic Party, Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom avoided a potential campaign battle in 2015 when she decided to run for the U.S. Senate and he announced his candidacy for governor.
This week, Newsom said he was avoiding a head-to-head battle with Harris for the White House.
The California governor reiterated that he would not run against Harris, a clarification he made last year that took on new meaning after President Biden’s appearance at a presidential debate in June led many in the party to call for him to drop out of the race.
Although Biden has vowed to continue his reelection bid, a decision Newsom has strongly supported, Harris and the California governor have been widely mentioned as potential replacements for the Democratic presidential nomination. As vice president, Harris appears to be the front-runner and has a legitimate claim, as she is already on the 2024 ticket.
“Absolutely,” Newsom said when asked if he still refuses to fight Harris. “Yes.”
If so, his decision could save the party and its donors the election of two prominent California politicians.
If Biden refuses to drop Harris, it would put Newsom on a longer path to the White House, putting any potential presidential ambitions for him on hold until 2028 at the earliest. On the other hand, Harris could lead a last-minute rescue mission to salvage the Democratic Party’s campaign against former President Trump and realize her own presidential ambitions.
For Newsom, avoiding a confrontation is also a stark recognition of a political reality: Trying to bypass the vice president — and possibly the first Black female president — will not bode well for the governor or most other Democrats.
His own chances of winning the Democratic nomination could also improve in four years.
“Now is not the time to be moving power, and I think Gavin Newsom understands that,” said Aimee Ellison, founder and president of She the People.
Ellison’s group, which pushes for more women of color in elected office, has advocated for Biden to choose Harris as his running mate in 2020 and has mobilized voters to support the cause.
At the time, many expected Biden to become a one-term president. By choosing Harris, he helped revive her political career after the collapse of the presidential campaign, raising the possibility that Biden could pass the baton to her before this year’s primaries.
While Ellison praised Newsom for his recent campaigns in conservative states to push for efforts to repeal reproductive rights and for his political attacks on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, she said he has more work to do in presenting himself to the country.
“My view was, and remains, that generational transition makes sense right now with Kamala Harris in charge, and it’s the closest thing Democrats have to a winning strategy this cycle,” Ellison said.
Polls showed Harris with leading other potential Democratic candidates. He looks good too roughly the same as Biden vs. Trump in the pollsBut the longer Biden waits, the shorter the window will be, and if he drops out, the harder it will be for someone else to launch a campaign.
At a news conference Thursday, Biden praised Harris and again vowed to stay in the race.
“He is qualified to be president, that is why I chose him,” he said of his choice as his running mate in 2020.
Newsom initially said he would not run against Harris in September. Interview with Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Biden had already begun his campaign, but rumors continued about whether the president would run again. The governor has made clear that he backs Biden and said Harris is naturally prepared to run if the president drops out of the race.
During a tour of swing states earlier this week to campaign for the Democratic nomination, Newsom said that as someone who has known Harris since before she entered politics, he believes Harris can beat Trump.
“I have no doubt about it,” he told reporters in New Hampshire. “If push comes to shove. But I don’t expect it to get to that level.”
Harris, who was born in Oakland, spent 13 years as a prosecutor in Alameda County and San Francisco before running and winning the race for San Francisco district attorney in 2003. She served as California Attorney General from 2011 to 2017 and then joined the U.S. Senate.
Newsom, meanwhile, grew up in San Francisco, where he started as a parking commissioner in 1996. An entrepreneur with a chain of wineries, hotels and retail stores, he soon served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and was elected mayor in 2003. He served two terms as California’s lieutenant governor and won the gubernatorial race in 2018.
The governor largely declined to directly answer questions about whether he would run to replace Biden after the late June debate in Atlanta, where he attended as the president’s surrogate. Biden’s performance, in which he struggled to answer questions and was occasionally interrupted, left Newsom with a barrage of questions about his ambitions as panic gripped Democrats.
But Newsom remained a campaign foot soldier, reiterating his support for Biden as the party’s nominee. He attempted to drum up support for the president, dismissing concerns about Biden’s mental capacity and affirming the president’s suitability based on their personal relationship.
“I think I’ve asked 100 media outlets the same question, and I think I’ve given enough answers to my support for the president, and the support I saw on the ground was visible,” Newsom told McClellan at a news conference in Sacramento, after returning from a campaign trip.
Newsom also reaffirmed his position that he would not run against Harris in the presidential campaign. Days earlier, another top Democrat, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, had also He said he wasn’t thinking about running. if Biden had resigned.
Tad Kusser, a political science professor at UC San Diego, said it would be politically smart for Newsom to drop the Hail Mary bid to try to become the party’s nominee at the August convention.
Newsom could score points for supporting the Democratic ticket, whether Biden or Harris emerges victorious. He could use the opportunity to act as a ticket broker, attend debates and travel the country to introduce himself to more voters across the country without stepping on Biden or Harris’ toes. Then he can wait for the dust to settle to determine his future presidential prospects.
“He took reality and turned it into a virtue,” Kusser said. “Of course, he passed up a short-term opportunity to take on that role and lead Democrats to victory in 2024. He has set himself up very well for 2028 and beyond.”
If Harris or Biden win in November, Harris will again be the front-runner in the 2028 presidential race, putting Newsom in a tough position if he wants to run. A Democratic loss in November could derail Harris’ presidential hopes while campaigning and open the door for Newsom or someone else to run for office in four years.
Such a loss means Newsom’s final two years in the governor’s office are mired in a high-profile battle with the Trump White House that could set the stage for a 2028 campaign in which his chief rival in California has already been neutralized.
“If Joe Biden or another Democrat loses, I think Gavin Newsom is the likely leader of the opposition to Donald Trump,” Kusser said, “because he has been the most vocal critic of the direction Donald Trump wants to take America.”
Times Staff writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report.
