Former Mayor Willie Brown made his way to The San Francisco Standard’s office Thursday morning for an interview with senior political editor Annie Gaus and longtime reporter Carla Marinucci, formerly of Politico and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Brown gave his full-throated support to Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket, predicting that the former San Francisco district attorney will win the White House in November. Harris “is on the threshold of doing what’s never been done in this country,” Brown said.
The wide-ranging interview covered Harris’ political ascent, her history in San Francisco and California, whether her association with the Golden State will help or hurt her campaign and what a Harris administration might look like.
Asked what Harris’ campaign means for Gov. Gavin Newsom — another San Francisco politician who’s rumored to have presidential aspirations — Brown responded, “I can’t imagine a new President Harris not including Mr. Newsom in some aspect of her administration.”
“Cabinet member, maybe?” Marinucci inquired.
“Joe Biden demonstrated that candidates who ran against him in the primary turned out to be the quality potential candidates for Cabinet-level positions,” Brown said. “[Pete] Buttigieg is probably the most outstanding current example of that collection of people. Almost every other successful president has tapped people like that from his own party to help fill his Cabinet.”
Newsom’s office did not respond to requests for comment by the time this story was published.
Marinucci highlighted Harris’ underdog status — a through line in her early career in San Francisco and California politics — saying that despite a flood of $81 million in donations in the first 24 hours of her campaign and a tsunami of online hype, the veep will need to put in the work over the next four months to clinch the election.
“She has a long way to go, but it’s doable now, when it wasn’t doable a couple weeks back, and you could see that in the amount of volunteers and the amount of money pouring in,” Marinucci said.
Brown asserted that President Joe Biden, who dropped out of the race Sunday, already had the election in the bag, but Harris as the first female president will be that much better for a nation at a crossroads.
“Biden would have beaten Trump. Kamala will beat Trump. It just will be so much better with Kamala beating Trump. This is actually what, I don’t know, several years since we’ve had the first ascendancy of a woman on the national ticket.”
Republicans have already gone on the attack against Harris, labeling the vice president “a San Francisco liberal” and “DEI candidate” — diversity, equity and inclusion — who did not earn her positions.
Marinucci pointed out that Brown, who dated Harris in the 1990s and helped her build connections in politics, is sometimes invoked in those attacks.
“I just hope they don’t find out that she dumped me,” Brown joked.
How would a Harris win affect San Francisco?
A Harris presidency would put San Francisco front and center in national politics, Brown said.
Marinucci agreed, saying Harris’ role as president would “establish a hotline between Mayor [London] Breed, should she be reelected.”
Marinucci added, “There is a whole network of elected women in California that will now have a hotline to Kamala Harris.” She pointed to established relationships between Harris, Breed, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Lateefah Simon, who serves on the board of BART and is running for Congress.
“So it may not just be San Francisco who gets the benefits when the money is being given out,” Marinucci said.
A team of prosecutors
Brown has been a staunch supporter of having two women on November’s ticket; Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is his top pick for vice president. Like Harris, Whitmer is a former prosecutor.
“It would be more earthshaking than just Kamala,” he said. “It would be incredible to have both [Harris and Whitmer] — prosecutors by the way.”
His No. 2 choice is North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who has served as that state’s attorney general.
There have been 12 Democratic National Conventions since Brown’s iconic “Give me back my delegation” speech at the 1972 gathering. With this year’s convention just days away in Chicago, Brown anticipates unity and peace across a party in flux.
“I do anticipate, in going back to Chicago, it will be to demonstrate how peaceful and respectful a Democratic Party can be,” Brown said.