Governor backing: Harris for Newsom
Timing could help him before Dem convention
Sen. Kamala Harris endorsed Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom for governor Friday in Los Angeles.
The Newsom campaign billed the event on the campus of the University of Southern California — in the hometown of former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the candidate Newsom is virtually tied with atop a recent Public Policy Institute of California poll — as “a major statewide endorsement.”
She and Newsom have connections going back years. Harris was district attorney in San Francisco when Newsom was the city’s mayor, and both were first elected to statewide office in 2010. They also share the same political consultant, SCN Strategies of San Francisco. As state attorney general, Harris administered the oath of office to Newsom to begin his second term as lieutenant governor in 2015.
“We’ve been friends for a very long time,” Harris said with Newsom at her side. She
praised him for his landmark support of same-sex marriage as San Francisco’s mayor.
“He took heat from people around the country ... but he stood strong for the right of all people to be treated as equals,” Harris said. “He will be that kind of person as governor, someone who will lead with courage.”
Newsom returned the praise, calling Harris “one of the nation’s finest political leaders.”
“She’s not timid, she’s tough,” he said, adding that they will be partners for California. “It’s so important to have leaders in California who can work together.”
The first-term senator is seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party and has been mentioned as a possible 2020 presidential candidate, making her endorsement a soughtafter prize in the governor’s race. The timing could help Newsom whip up enthusiasm among grassroots activists at next week’s California Democratic Party convention, where both he and Harris are scheduled to speak.
One year into her term, Harris has a higher approval rating (52 percent of registered California voters) than Sen. Dianne Feinstein (50 percent), who was first elected to the Senate in 1992, according to a Berkeley IGS Poll taken in September. Among respondents who identified themselves as “very liberal,” 86 percent approved of Harris, compared with 65 percent for Feinstein.
Feinstein has yet to make an endorsement in the governor’s race.
At one time, Harris and Newsom were both considered to be potential rivals for governor. But just days after Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer announced in January 2015 that she would not seek re-election the next year, Harris announced that she was running for the seat. About a month later, Newsom started a fundraising committee to run for governor. Newsom has denied that they cut a deal to run for the respective offices.
On Tuesday, Newsom was endorsed by the 700,000-member Service Employees International Union California. In December 2015, he was backed by California Nurses Association/National Nurses United. Both unions are politically active and pour resources into preferred candidates’ campaigns.
Earlier this week, Villaraigosa won the support of the California Police Chiefs Association and the Peace Officers Research Association of California, which represents more than 70,000 public safety officers — the largest law enforcement organization in California.