Since they entered California politics over 20 years ago, Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom have ducked a one-on-one showdown. Now the Democratic rivals are barreling toward what could be a contest on the biggest stage: the 2028 race for the White House.
- It could be a Hollywood script: The former vice president, now touting a new book, is seeking redemption after falling to Donald Trump last year.
- The California governor, a rising star, has burst onto the national stage this year as a leading voice in the resistance to Trump.
Why it matters: Their public niceties toward each other cloud a longtime, behind-the-scenes tension that's beginning to surface as both weigh runs for president.
Zoom in: Harris set off rare public sniping between the pair last month when she took a dig at Newsom in her new book "107 Days," about her short run for president in 2024.
- After then-President Biden dropped out of the race in July, Harris called Democratic lawmakers to ask for their endorsement.
- She wrote in her book that when she reached Newsom, he said he was hiking and would call her back.
- Newsom did post his endorsement online hours later, but Harris wrote that Newsom never called back.
Newsom recently said he privately asked Harris why she didn't mention in her book that he had quickly endorsed her, and she responded: "On book tour. Get back to you later."
- Harris has been using her tour to argue that even with only a 107-day campaign, she got close to beating Donald Trump.
- Newsom, meanwhile, told Stephen Colbert last month: "As the Democratic Party, we have a lot of work to do to make up for our failures in the past. We got crushed in this last election."
Newsom also publicly second-guessed Harris' response to Trump's 2024 campaign ads about her support for taxpayer-funded, gender-related surgeries for transgender migrants and federal prisoners.
- "She didn't even react to it, which was even more devastating," Newsom said on his podcast in March.
After Harris took over the Democratic ticket last summer, there was some awkwardness at Democratic National Convention when Newsom didn't give a speech, though he was there. Both sides publicly said it was because of travel and logistical issues.
- Minyon Moore, a Harris ally who chaired the convention, told Axios that Newsom "is one of the superstars of our party" and that "the way he campaigned for the president and the vice president was admirable. We would have wanted him to speak at the convention."
- Newsom spoke briefly from the floor of the convention to announce California's delegates voting for Harris as the nominee.
The intrigue: Many former Harris staffers, including the leadership of her 2020 presidential campaign, now are working for Newsom and are expected to stay with him if he runs in 2028.
- Longtime Democratic strategist Ace Smith has known Harris since the early 2000s and steered her races for California attorney general, U.S. Senate and president. But he's no longer part of Harris' orbit, people familiar with the relationship tell Axios.
- Smith and his firm Bearstar Strategies — which includes Harris' 2020 campaign manager, Juan Rodriguez — also have worked with Newsom and now are guiding his rise as a Trump antagonist.
- After Harris' campaign ran out of money and she left that presidential race in December 2019, there was finger-pointing between her political team and her sister Maya that fractured longstanding relationships.
Smith's partner Sean Clegg has managed the awkward task of keeping ties alive to both Harris and Newsom.
- He helped Harris as a volunteer during her debate prep in 2024, and Harris consulted him as she considered a run for California governor next year before deciding against it.
- But Harris hasn't been an official client of Clegg's since the 2020 campaign, and that isn't expected to change.
- Clegg declined to comment and Smith did not respond to requests for comment.
Flashback: Newsom and Harris have long been friendly in public, but there have been personal and political tensions behind the scenes.
- Newsom was inaugurated as San Francisco's mayor the same day in 2004 that Harris was sworn in as the city's district attorney.
- With the two young and attractive people taking over the city, Harris wrote later, "there was a palpable sense in the city that a new chapter was opening for San Francisco politics."
But personal tensions flared almost immediately.
- Newsom's then-wife, Kimberly Guilfoyle, had long accused Harris of blocking her from a job in the DA's office.
- The allegation, which Harris denied, had been an issue in Harris' race to be district attorney.
- A week after Newsom and Harris won their elections, Giulfoyle — the incoming first lady of San Francisco — went on the record about the tension and said that "talented women should support other talented women."
- Guilfoyle and Newsom filed for divorce in 2005, and now she's Trump's nominee to be ambassador to Greece. She declined to comment.
Since then, Newsom and Harris have risen in state and national politics — but have avoided running against each other for an office.
- "They are mystified by the other person's success but they respect the other enough to have never challenged each other," said one person familiar with their dynamic.
What they're saying: Newsom and Harris both publicly praise the other.
- Newsom spokesperson Nathan Click told Axios: "Governor Newsom and VP Harris are longtime friends and allies, and Governor Newsom worked overtime to help get VP Harris elected once she became nominee — serving as a top debate surrogate, giving the culminating speech during DNC roll call, raising more than a million dollars for her and endorsing her just hours" after Biden withdrew.
- Harris, who recently complimented Newsom as a star of the party, declined to comment.
What's next: Harris has been using her book tour to try to distance herself from Biden and reframe her loss while dinging potential 2028 rivals such as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).
- Newsom vows to continue challenging Trump challenger in court, on social media and in redistricting battles ahead of the 2026 midterms.
- Some ex-Harris aides see parallels in Newsom's strategy to Harris' in 2017 and 2018, when they used Senate hearings to create viral moments and portray her as a top Trump antagonist.
"The current Gavin playbook feels a lot like the Senate Kamala playbook — different tactics, but similar strategy of getting the most 'likes,' " one former Harris aide said.
- "I wonder," they added, "if there is a little envy from her that he now gets to be the fresh thing at the moment."
