In recent months, it has become clear that California Governor Gavin Newsom is setting himself up for a run at the White House – perhaps in 2028, perhaps sooner. This is bound to be awkward for another Californian, Vice President Kamala Harris, who has already run for President once, who is currently a heartbeat away from the presidency, and whom Newsom himself says is in “pole position” to succeed Joe Biden as the Democrat standard bearer.
Newsom and Harris, both products of San Francisco politics, have for decades managed to choreograph their parallel political careers to avoid a collision course. They have run for different offices: District Attorney, Attorney General, Senator, and Vice President in her case; Supervisor, Mayor, Lieutenant Governor, and Governor in his. They have consistently supported each other’s campaigns and sung each other’s praises. The alliance has helped propel both up the political ladder. Yet now, each holds an office where it would seem there’s only one way up: to the Oval Office.
Newsom and Harris, both products of San Francisco politics, have for decades managed to choreograph their parallel political careers to avoid a collision course … Yet now, each holds an office where it would seem there’s only one way up: to the Oval Office.
Whether a collision ultimately proves unavoidable – whether it’s Harris, Newsom, or both that seeks the presidency – American voters will soon be asked to nationalize a brand of governance that originated in a distinctive political environment. San Francisco is arguably America’s most liberal city, with Republicans accounting for a scant 6 percent of registered voters. In local races, claims of being a socialist are used in positive biographical ads, not negative attack ads. The last elected district attorney was a former staffer for Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. As successful candidates in San Francisco, Newsom and Harris catered their platforms to a political culture far removed from the mainstream of American life. Their policies and actions as Mayor and District Attorney, in turn, pushed the outer-most reaches of progressive politics.
In recent months, the effects of these policies have become impossible to deny. The decline of Harris and Newsom’s mutual home city has accelerated, leading the San Francisco Chronicle to editorialize it is “on the verge of collapse.” Businesses are closing in droves; downtown buildings sit vacant; homelessness, crime, squalor, and drug use have reached jarring extremes that one does not expect to encounter in America. Governor Newsom himself recently sent in the National Guard to try to restore order. And citizens are moving out even faster than they abandoned Detroit when the Motor City went bankrupt. One of the world’s most beautiful cities has become the most popular place in America to leave.
While both Newsom and Harris played starring roles in San Francisco’s decline, each has also had a significant hand in spreading the city’s radical politics beyond the peninsula. Newsom, the former Mayor, has taken the state further left than ever before, causing crime, homelessness, and unaffordability to increase dramatically during his governorship. And California’s century-long trajectory of population growth reversed sharply after Newsom took office; the state now has the highest outmigration rate in the country. Harris, as California Attorney General, also helped spread the lawlessness of her home city statewide. She was an early supporter of Proposition 47, which effectively legalized petty theft and open drug use.
While both Newsom and Harris played starring roles in San Francisco’s decline, each has also had a significant hand in spreading the city’s radical politics beyond the peninsula.
Yet the spillover is increasingly not just from San Francisco to California. It is from California to the rest of the country. When President Biden took office, Newsom declared that the “new Administration is using CA’s progressivism as their roadmap to success.” And indeed, Vice President Harris has used her influence to give California policies and personnel an outsize role in the Biden Administration. Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, and OSHA Director Douglas Parker are all Californians who joined Harris in high-ranking Administration roles.
Julie Su is a particularly revealing example. A close ally of both Newsom and Harris, she served as Newsom’s Labor Secretary throughout the COVID-19 years. During her tenure, California’s unemployment rate was the highest in the country, and her agency was responsible for losing a staggering $31 billion to unemployment fraud. She was also the lead enforcer of AB 5, a bill signed by Newsom that effectively outlawed independent contracting. When Biden nevertheless nominated Su for his Cabinet, the Democrat-led Senate refused to confirm her. Yet the President installed her at the Department of Labor anyway, making her a permanent “Acting” Secretary. Harris made this end-run around the Constitution blatant when she said of the unconfirmed Su: “I’ll call her ‘Labor Secretary.’ I’m not going to call her ‘Acting.’”
This is why, should Newsom or Harris become the Democrat nominee, any attempt to distance themselves from San Francisco will be disingenuous. The city’s extreme politics have stayed with them along each rung of the political ladder. While Newsom likes to say California provides a “model for the nation,” the total collapse of his home city is providing just the opposite: a warning to the nation about what is in store if he or his is fellow Californian is given the chance to lead it.
Kevin Kiley represents the 3rd District of California in the U.S. House of Representatives. Elected in 2022, he previously served six years in the California State Assembly.