Former Vice President Kamala Harris’s political future just received another devastating blow after her former lover, Willie Brown, publicly declared she shouldn’t run for California governor because she would certainly lose.
Brown, the 91-year-old former San Francisco mayor and California Assembly speaker who launched Harris’s career, delivered the crushing assessment during a recent interview.
“She may not want to run for governor of the state of California. That may not be where she should be going. I think it’s going to be difficult for her to win that job,” Brown said.
“I do think people running for public office really ought to fit eventually where they are trying to land at. And I really do, hope, frankly, that she comes to that reality.”
Brown is considered a well-connected Democratic Party insider in California who knows Harris better than almost anyone in politics.
According to numerous reports, Harris and Brown were romantically involved in the 1990s when she was just beginning her career as a Democratic Party up-and-comer. The New York Post reported:
Harris, 60, was romantically involved with Brown in the mid-1990s when she was a young prosecutor in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and he was a married man and speaker of the California state Assembly.
Their relationship reportedly began in 1994 and ended sometime in 1995, the year Brown was elected mayor of San Francisco.
Podcaster Jon Slavet told Fox11 LA anchor Elex Michaelson that Brown’s assessment was particularly damaging given their history as lovers.
“Yeah, well, first of all, kudos to Willie—age 91, still going strong, still sharp. I mean, I think that’s amazing. You know, he, in effect, said he doesn’t think governor is a fit for her… He talked about her strengths in the legal world, but not as an executive, which to me was pretty stunning because this is a guy who knows her very well,” Slavet said.
“He’s a legend in Democratic politics, right? He’s been a mentor to Kamala. And he actually cares about the future of California authentically, and he in effect said she should try something different.”
Brown said Harris is better suited for legal positions like attorney general or Supreme Court justice rather than executive roles — a harsh blow to Harris’ future ambitions after her landslide loss to President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Brown revealed that Harris cut off contact with him after he advised her against becoming Joe Biden’s running mate in 2020. When Biden was considering his final five vice presidential candidates, Brown recommended Harris push for attorney general instead.
“He did. First, he chuckled. He’s got a great kind of knowing chuckle. And he said, ‘I got in trouble for this when I said it.’ But what he told me is that when she was one of the final five and Biden was reviewing the final candidates, he recommended to her when she asked him for his advice that he suggest that Biden nominate her as the attorney general,” Brown said.
“And it goes back to this theme of he believes that Kamala is better in the legal world, not as an executive. And that’s so important right now in terms of what California needs, which he and I talked about further in the episode.”
The team around Harris has been conducting extensive polling about her national prospects heading towards the 2028 election, but the results reportedly paint a bleak picture.
“Well, I mean, as of a few months ago, when she was still funded by the US government, right? The VP, I think, has six months of support from the US government — has a team, Secret Service, et cetera, protection, et cetera. Now that’s evaporated,” Slavet revealed. “But she was doing a lot of polling to understand her image and standing nationally in 2028. And my understanding from people close to her is that it does not look good… That national standing and running again nationally does not look good for her.”
“So the obvious question is, what does she do next? And given that California is such a Democratic state, the machine is so strong, the logical question is will she throw her hat into the ring?”
It represents a stunning fall for Harris, who was once considered a rising Democratic star who fell just short of the Oval Office.
Brown praised up-and-coming Democratic Party candidates in California, particularly wealthy businessman Rick Caruso, who spent nearly $100 million of his own money running for Los Angeles mayor in 2022. Brown described Caruso as having “great executive potential.”
The Democratic-dominated gubernatorial race to succeed termed-out Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to attract several high-profile candidates. Former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, whom Brown calls “like a young son of mine for years,” is also considering a run.
Harris reportedly plans to announce her decision about her political future by the end of summer. She has remained largely out of public view since her devastating election loss to Trump.