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Did You Hear What Gavin Newsom Had to Say About Kamala Harris and How Her Career Started?

Dmitri Bolt
Dmitri Bolt  |  February 24, 2026 11:30 AM

California Governor Gavin Newsom has faced significant backlash over racist remarks he made while addressing voters in Georgia. However, additional clips from the same event show the Golden State governor appearing to mock former Vice President Kamala Harris, telling the crowd that few would know who she was if not for former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.

"In the book I briefly describe, I am here because of my parents, but I am also here in political terms, because of one extraordinary human being," Newsom said. "Willie Brown. And for those that don't know Willie Brown, you wouldn't know Kamala Harris without Willie Brown."

Harris’s early political ascent was shaped in part by her relationship with Willie Brown. During their 18-month relationship in the mid-1990s, Brown, then Speaker of the California Assembly and later mayor of San Francisco, helped elevate her profile within California’s political circles. He also appointed her to two lucrative state board positions, which expanded her access to influential power brokers and major donor networks across the state.

Harris leveraged those connections in her 2003 campaign for San Francisco district attorney, a post she held until 2011. She went on to win election as California attorney general in 2010, later securing a U.S. Senate seat in 2016 before ultimately serving as vice president under President Joe Biden.

Harris’s former boyfriend, despite helping her reach the pinnacle of the political world, has cast doubt on her political future, saying in the summer of 2025 that she should not run for governor of California.