Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday dismissed former Vice President Kamala Harris’ claim in her new book that he was unreachable in the hours after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race last year.
Newsom was in San Francisco for a signing ceremony for climate bills when asked by The Standard for his response to Harris’ upcoming memoir, “107 Days (opens in new tab),” which chronicles her presidential run. Recently published excerpts include criticism by Harris against a range of Democrats (opens in new tab), from Biden to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
In one instance, Harris claims that Newsom, with whom she rose through the competitive ranks of San Francisco politics more than two decades ago, didn’t respond to her call (opens in new tab) soon after Biden dropped out in July 2024.
“Hiking. Will call back,” Harris wrote of Newsom’s response, adding that he never returned her call.
Newsom said he had not read the memoir, so it’s “hard to even opine about context and to even reflect on things in the book.”
When pressed on whether it was true that he didn’t call Harris back, Newsom said, “Trivial doesn’t even go into describing how inconsequential my comments are about to be. You want to waste your time with this, we’ll do it.
“I was up there hiking,” Newsom explained. “There was an unknown number, checked the unknown number. Meanwhile, I was on text chains trying to get in touch with the Biden administration, because I was completely surprised that the president dropped out.
“As you know, I was a surrogate, and I was out on the campaign trail (opens in new tab), and so I was trying to figure out what just happened. Then, when I checked the unknown number, it was Kamala. I said ‘Hey, hiking, will call you back.’ At that exact same moment, I was working with my team to put out a statement to endorse her. I assume that’s in the book as well.”
The excerpt does not mention that Newsom endorsed Harris (opens in new tab)hours after Biden bowed out of the race.
Newsom has previously said he was at the gym on the treadmill (opens in new tab) when news broke that Biden ended his run, and that he initially missed calls from both the president and vice president.
Though they grew up together in the meat grinder of San Francisco politics, Harris and Newsom are more friendly(ish) competitors than staunch allies, a dynamic that’s expected to intensify in 2028 if both decide to run for president.
A spokesperson for Harris did not respond to a request for comment.