The Wall Street Journal By Tarini Parti and Eliza Collins 6/4/2026
They claim to be friends, but many expect a gloves-off brawl should the two California Democrats decide to run for presidentCalifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris appear on a collision course for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris have much in common, fellow Bay Area Democrats who insist they’re friends but don’t always act like it.
They drew broad notice in the 2003 San Francisco election, leading an up-and-coming generation of California politicians—Newsom as mayor and Harris as district attorney—by turns bumping elbows over command of the microphone at news conferences.
Newsom, 58 years old, and Harris, 61, have shared mentors, staffers, donors, friends and consultants for more than two decades, going neck and neck in the parochial world of Bay Area politics. They have exchanged endorsements and snubs, each wary of the other, according to people close to them.
“They’ve been kind of like two cats, circling each other in an alley for years, politically speaking,” said Democratic strategist Garry South, who worked for Newsom.
The conspicuously liberal politicians live in exclusive locales at two ends of the Golden State —Harris in Malibu, Calif., and Newsom in Marin County—and appear on a collision course for the keys to the big white mansion at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
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