How Kamala Bested Newsom in Their Decades-Long Feud

Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, have a rivalry that stretches back twenty-five years. In this showdown, Kamala has won, leaving Newsom deeply resentful.

Egotistical and occasionally impulsive when his ego is threatened, Newsom responded to Kamala’s nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate by mocking the Democratic insider–led coronation. “We went through a very open process, a very inclusive process,” he said on the Pod Save America podcast in August. “It was bottom-up, I don’t know if you know that. That’s what I’ve been told to say!”

Newsom would feel less aggrieved if anyone but Kamala Harris had beaten him out.

The roots of this rivalry trace back to a 1999 fight over Newsom’s then-girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle. Once she and Gavin began dating, Kimberly was eager to relocate from Los Angeles to San Francisco to be with him. That’s where things got messy. Guilfoyle was the ex-girlfriend of Newsom’s best friend, Billy Getty, with whom Newsom was having escalating conflicts over their joint business ventures. That year, Billy had married Vanessa Jarman, who was close friends with Kamala Harris. It seemed that, as Billy and Vanessa grew closer to Kamala Harris, they correspondingly grew further apart from Newsom. Tensions peaked when, according to Newsom and Guilfoyle’s version of events, Harris tried to stop Guilfoyle from getting a job at the San Francisco district attorney’s office because of her loyalty to Billy and Vanessa. The couple did not want Billy’s ex to come back to town to date his increasingly estranged business partner. Newsom’s relationship with his best friend was entirely severed, a sad circumstance that Newsom likely saw as stemming from Kamala Harris’ machinations.

By 2003, Newsom and Harris had reached a similar junction: each was attempting to make his or her first major ingression in politics. Newsom, then the golden boy of San Francisco’s elite, was seeking the San Francisco mayor’s office while Harris was seeking to unseat the city’s incumbent district attorney. Both were in a position to compete for these roles because of one man: then–San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.

Brown picked Newsom to succeed himself as mayor, lent him his endorsement, and did everything he could to get him elected. The Associated Press even branded Newsom “Mayor Willie Brown’s hand-picked successor.” Brown’s support stemmed from the fact that Newsom was the son of his longtime friend, William Newsom. In Kamala’s case, Brown propped up her run against the incumbent district attorney because he and Harris had previously dated (when he was 60 and she was 29, and while his divorce with his then-wife was still pending, no less). The media awkwardly avoided acknowledging this likely motive for Brown’s elevation of Harris, and he insisted that he had done so because of her talent and abilities. (Brown had additionally appointed Harris to two state commissions.) Harris, for her part, tried to claim that Brown’s support was not aiding her in the district attorney race and that he was an “albatross hanging around [her] neck.” She told a local news outlet: “His career is over; I will be alive and kicking for the next 40 years. I do not owe him a thing.” Both Newsom and Harris won, thanks in large part to Willie Brown.

In 2010, Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom, their careers still in parallel, each won election to state positions. Harris was elected California’s attorney general, and Newsom was elected lieutenant governor. This was an imbalance that made Newsom bitter and jealous. The budget for the lieutenant governor’s office allowed Newsom just three full-time employees, which looked pitiful in comparison to his rival Harris’ staff of 4,700 and budget of $735 million. Newsom spent much of his tenure as lieutenant governor raging against the smallness of his office.

After Newsom and Harris secured reelection to their respective positions, public speculation immediately turned to which higher office each of these ambitious politicians, who occupied roughly the same center-left position on the political spectrum, would seek. It was widely speculated that, if the two rivals went up against one another in an election, it would end their political careers because they shared so much of the same political base, which would create a lane for a third challenger to have a breakout win. One political insider, for example, said that a face-off between the two would be a “murder-suicide” because they were “political twins.”

When California Senator Barbara Boxer announced her retirement soon thereafter, it was up to Harris and Newsom to decide who would get that office, and who would get the governor’s mansion. Newsom seized on to the governor’s mansion by calling Harris to tell her that he would not be seeking Boxer’s seat, essentially handing the race to her. Harris announced that she would seek the Senate seat, and Newsom said shortly afterward that he would create an exploratory committee to run for governor. Both hoped that these moves would position them to achieve their shared political ambition: the presidency.

***** 

In a cooling of the tensions, Harris lent Newsom her endorsement for governor and briefly joined him on the campaign trail. Politico wrote that the two “presented a unified front,” even as their feud was publicly known. Willie Brown said of their longtime rivalry: “They have to work that out.” And they seemed to. In 2019, when Harris was waging her own presidential campaign, Newsom likewise lent her his endorsement and held a fundraiser for her. Alas, before he was able to head a scheduled campaign event for her in Iowa, she dropped out of the race. 

Even after Biden picked Harris to be his vice presidential nominee, Newsom had every reason to believe that he would come out on top in their long-running race to the summit of the political ladder. While Newsom would be able to make waves as the executive of the most populous state in the union, Harris would be consigned to secondary status. Moreover, Harris’ performance in the 2020 Democratic primary — not to mention the disaster that was her first year in the vice presidency — boded poorly for her chances at ever attaining the presidency. Political insiders reported to California newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, that Newsom was glorying in Harris’ struggles. Later, sources told those papers that Harris had loved watching Newsom squirm when he faced a recall election. 

While Harris was stuck playing Biden’s loyal deputy, Newsom took every opportunity to elevate his political profile. This included a pseudo-campaign tour of red states, a debate against then-presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, and high-profile international trips. Speculation abounded nationally that he was setting himself up to take over for Biden in the 2024 election should the president decide to withdraw. Indeed, Newsom was actively preparing for that eventuality.

Here’s how Newsom went wrong in that endeavor: He played it too conservatively. 

In the face of relentless questions in 2023 about whether he intended to replace Biden, Newsom felt compelled to deny them for fear of being seen as overly ambitious and power-hungry. Those were critiques that he had previously faced in his political career — and they had cost him greatly. When Newsom launched his first bid for the governor’s mansion in 2009, San Francisco political leaders, led by the Board of Supervisors, were angered by his prioritization of his political ambitions over his job as mayor. They waged an attack against him that culminated in the destruction of his gubernatorial campaign. 

In the case of 2024, Newsom feared that Biden’s allies would blockade his future ambitions in reaction to his positioning himself as Biden’s successor. It was certainly the case that Biden’s people were upset by the California governor’s naked ambitions. Additionally, Newsom feared that Californians were becoming increasingly alienated by his centering of his national ambitions. After all, his approval ratings were reaching all-time lows, and the common explanation for this was that Californians felt they were being sidelined by Newsom’s designs on higher office. 

In reaction to these fears, Newsom went all-in for Biden. He became the president’s most vocal advocate and adamantly defended him on cable show after cable show. To further quash speculation that he was positioning himself as Biden’s replacement, Newsom declared that Harris should replace Biden were he to step down. In hindsight, Newsom should not have done any of this. Had he pledged support for Biden without devolving into sycophantic servitude or completely renouncing his own presidential ambitions — even to the point of endorsing Harris — he could have kept himself in a prime position to seize the nomination when Biden’s cognitive decline inevitably became too obvious for him to continue in the race. 

When Biden’s cognitive decline was made glaringly apparent in the June 27 presidential debate, it was not too late for Newsom to reconsider his sycophantic stance. He could have signaled hesitation with Biden’s continuance in the race or claimed ignorance of the severity of the president’s decline. Instead, driven by fear, he remained locked in a state of groveling subservience. He was more supportive of Biden’s presidential bid than any other Democrat. Newsom even embarked on a three-state tour to campaign for the president. Newsom’s stubbornness caused him to cling to his narrative that Biden had delivered a “masterclass” in governing and was the best choice for the presidency. 

Another reason Newsom clung to his support for Biden was Kamala Harris. He feared that, should Biden step down, she would be his successor. This prospect was unacceptable to him both because of their longtime rivalry and because of the fact that her election would derail his chances at the presidency until at least 2032 — by which time he would have been out of office for six years. Alas, the one-man show of Newsom begging the public to disbelieve their eyes and ears failed to prevent Biden’s ousting from the race.

When Biden announced he was withdrawing, Newsom still had an opportunity to enter the race. He could have acted before Biden endorsed his vice president, or after the endorsement but before the party’s major figures rallied behind her. Harris’ disaster of a vice presidency and lack of political talent called out for a rival to jump in. Newsom likely determined, however, that his repeated claims of having no presidential ambitions and his position as Biden and Harris’ top supporter would make an entry into the race appear disingenuous and manipulative. Fearing that overt ambition might damage his future prospects at higher office, he felt trapped by his own statements. With Newsom out of the race, Kamala walked, not ran, to the nomination. 

Kamala’s race card — though powerful — was not necessarily a trump card, and yet Newsom had let her win this hand.

***** 

Since Kamala’s seeming victory in their long-running feud, Newsom’s position on the political stage has been significantly diminished. While Newsom was Biden’s top surrogate, he’s hardly acted as a surrogate for Harris. He criss-crossed the country campaigning for Biden, but he has only held a fundraiser for Harris. Newsom has acknowledged his diminished role, saying, “At the end of the day, it will be swing states that will be determinative, and if I can fill a void that others can’t, then I’ll be there.” 

Newsom did not even speak at the Democratic National Convention apart from ceremonially delivering California’s delegates. Instead, he appeared bitter over Harris’ success. The week of the convention, the Los Angeles Times described Newsom as having “the tight smile of a disappointed runner-up; the kind you see at the Oscars when they flash on the best actor nominees just before pulling away to show the winner take the stage.” 

If Harris wins the presidency, she will blockade Newsom’s future ambitions and deny him a Cabinet role. Yet this political rivalry may have another decade in it. If Harris loses, Newsom could go on to beat her in the next round.

Ellie Gardey Holmes is Print Editor of The American Spectator and author of Newsom Unleashed: The Progressive Lust for Unbridled Power.

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