Gavin Newsom — once Biden’s biggest cheerleader — inches into the Kamala Harris campaign

This story first ran at CalMatters.

Until the moment President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign crashed to an end last month, no one remained a more committed cheerleader than Gov. Gavin Newsom, who forcefully defended Biden in television interviews and on the campaign trail against calls to drop out.

But in the weeks since Biden did just that, passing the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris, Newsom retreated from the role of surrogate.

In the early phase of the reformulated Harris campaign, California’s governor has made just a handful of social media posts and public statements in support of the new Democratic nominee as his focus has shifted to clearing homeless encampments and launching a new weekly podcast with with former football player Marshawn Lynch and sports agent Doug Hendrickson.

It’s a complicated dynamic for two of California’s most high-profile political leaders, who became friendly professional rivals as they rose simultaneously through San Francisco and statewide elected office. Newsom, widely regarded as a future presidential contender, could see his ambitions delayed and diminished if Harris is elected in November. Harris is working to quickly redefine herself for voters as her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, targets her as a radical who destroyed California alongside Newsom.

Their camps deny that Newsom and Harris have intentionally distanced themselves, whether for personal or strategic reasons. Yet what role Newsom plays at next week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago — nothing has been formally announced yet — could be an important signal of how prominent the governor will be in the campaign amid fears that Trump will make the race a referendum on California.

“It will speak volumes,” said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University. “It gives us a window into the Harris campaign’s thinking about his slot and his place.”

Newsom aides maintain that the governor always planned to take a break from the presidential race over the summer to concentrate on state issues and that he will begin campaigning for Harris after the convention. They also suggested that the change in his visibility appears more substantial because the Biden campaign relied so heavily on Newsom at the end, when few other Democrats were as willing to go to bat for the increasingly unpopular president.

“There’s no ‘step back.’ Few have been as aggressive in making the case against Donald Trump and campaigning for Joe Biden and now Kamala Harris,” Nathan Click, a spokesperson for Newsom, said in a statement. “We are finalizing plans with the Harris campaign for him to hit the national trail once more following next week’s convention. During that time, he has still been supporting VP Harris and her campaign from California — signing and sending fundraising emails on her behalf and attending the SF fundraiser over the weekend.”

At a blockbuster fundraiser in San Francisco on Sunday, attended by many state politicians, Harris singled out her “friend and colleague” Newsom for praise, calling him “an extraordinary leader for California and a national leader,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Harris campaign declined to discuss the surrogate relationship with Newsom, but spokesperson Kevin Munoz wrote in an email that he “would strongly push back” against the idea that the governor had been given less to do because of his ties to California.

Newsom was everywhere in late June and early July, as Biden fought to keep his reelection campaign afloat following a disastrous debate performance that stirred fellow Democrats to try to push him aside. California’s governor appeared on television to swat down concerns about Biden’s cognitive decline, rushed to the White House for a damage-control meeting with Democratic governors that some participated in remotely, delivered a pep talk to Biden campaign staff on a conference call, and toured through swing states on the president’s behalf over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

Yet when Biden abruptly ended his campaign on July 21 and endorsed Harris as his successor, Newsom’s initial response offered only an appreciation for the president’s legacy. It was more than five hours before he publicly threw his support behind Harris, even as much of the Democratic Party swiftly closed ranks behind her. While some top Democrats took longer, including former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Newsom’s delay prompted speculation that he was assessing his own path to the nomination, despite previous assurances that he would not run against Harris.

Since then, Newsom has rarely spoken publicly about Harris, foregoing national media opportunities as other Democratic governors auditioning to be her running mate flooded the airwaves. Newsom was eclipsed as a surrogate — and an object of political fascination — by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, among others. Asked for advice on debating Trump, Newsom did tell the Fox affiliate in Los Angeles last week that “Kamala will clean his clock,” a clip shared by the Harris campaign.

Newsom has posted occasional missives against Trump on social media in recent weeks, but did not mention Harris again until Aug. 6, when she selected Walz as her vice presidential nominee. Newsom called it a “brilliant choice” in a fundraising email that same day, asking supporters to split a donation between the Harris campaign and his own Campaign for Democracy PAC. A similar email was sent to the Harris campaign list over the weekend under Newsom’s name.

The Campaign for Democracy launched last year with leftover funds from Newsom’s 2022 reelection committee, serving as a vehicle to raise money for Democratic parties and candidates across the country and also to promote the governor through his advocacy for pet causes such as a constitutional amendment on gun control. Days before Biden abandoned his campaign, the PAC reported spending more than $800,000 on text messages on the president’s behalf.

People on Newsom’s PAC mailing list have actually gotten more updates in the past month about “Politickin’,” Newsom’s new podcast. In the opening minutes of the premiere episode, released a few days after Biden dropped out, Newsom recounted how he heard the news and said Harris was “lighting it up,” but the show has otherwise avoided the topic of the presidential race.

With his lighter campaign role, Newsom has turned more vigorously to the gubernatorial duties that he was criticized for ignoring while out of the state. He has kept busiest the past few weeks battling cities and counties over their response to a recent Supreme Court ruling that gave them more power to crack down on people who sleep on the streets — thrusting him into the national spotlight on his own terms.

The governor’s order for California officials to begin dismantling homeless encampments was announced in The New York Times, provoking Trump to complain online that “Gavin Newscum” was only acting for “political reasons” to help Harris’ campaign. Though perpetually a top concern for Californians, widespread homelessness has also tarnished the state’s image nationally and Newsom’s inability to solve it has given Republicans a potent attack.

Last week, Newsom threatened to withhold funding from local governments that don’t comply with his order and traveled to Los Angeles to clean up an encampment, documented for posterity by a photographer that Politico reported is being paid $200,000 per year by the governor’s office.

Now that national attention has shifted to Harris, these activities are another way for Newsom to get himself front and center, said McCuan, the Sonoma State professor, allowing the governor to build his profile beyond California without relying on the campaign of a political rival.

“It’s got to be chapping him that he’s not the guy,” McCuan said. “He needs to stay in the public eye and stay relevant.”

It’s something that Newsom, who terms out as governor at the start of 2027, will have to continue finding ways to do if he wants to seek the Democratic nomination for president in four or eight years. Should Harris win in November, essentially foreclosing a Newsom campaign until at least 2032, his best option might just be a post in her administration — and the job application starts with how he performs on the campaign trail this fall.