‘May not be where she should be going’

Kamala Harris may not be a good “fit” in the California governor’s mansion and would face a “difficult” road getting elected, her ex-boyfriend and political mentor, Willie Brown, warned in a recent interview. 

“I do think people running for public office really ought to fit eventually where they are trying to land at. And I really do, hope, frankly, that [Harris] comes to that reality,” Brown said of Harris’ political future when asked by “State of Gold” podcast host Jon Slavet. 

Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco and longtime speaker of the California state Assembly, argued that Harris’s talents don’t seem to align with being an executive and that she is more suited for a top legal job, such as being an attorney general or Supreme Court justice. 

“She may not want to run for governor of the state of California,” the 91-year-old Democrat continued. “That may not be where she should be going. I think it’s going to be difficult for her to win that job.”

Brown touted the “quality” of several Golden State officials considering a 2026 run at the governorship. 

“There’s just so many really talented people thinking about that job,” Brown said, singling out former Los Angeles mayoral candidate and businessman Rick Caruso as someone with “great executive potential.” 

Harris, 60, was romantically involved with Brown in the mid-1990s when she was a young prosecutor in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and he was a married man and speaker of the California state Assembly. 

Their relationship reportedly began in 1994 and ended sometime in 1995, the year Brown was elected mayor of San Francisco. 

Brown noted that Harris hasn’t spoken with him since he advised her not to become Joe Biden’s 2020 election running mate. 

“I’ve gotten in real trouble giving Kamala Harris advice,” Brown said with a laugh.

“She is bold enough, tough enough, and well-informed enough that if she would utilize that talent, she would not need a person like me giving her advice, period. She would be doing what needs to be done,” he added. 

Harris, who lost the 2024 presidential election in a landslide to President Trump, is reportedly mulling whether to launch a bid to succeed termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

Several polls have shown that she would be the clear front-runner in the race if she were to enter. 

Harris is slated to make a final decision on her next move by the end of the summer, Politico reported earlier this year. 

Brown argued that Harris “needs to understand” that successfully leading California would mean running it like “a private-sector person” would operate a business. 

He touted the “California Forever” project spearheaded by Apple founder Steve Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell Jobs – an effort to build a utopian city on farmland in the outskirts of San Francisco –  as an example of the type of innovative thinking needed to succeed in the governor’s mansion. 

“[If] Kamala Harris does something similar in her quest to become governor, she may get there,” Brown said.