Gavin Newsom, once Biden’s biggest cheerleader, inches into the Kamala Harris campaign

By Alexei Koseff (CALMATTERS) – Until the moment President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign crashed to an end last month, no one remained a more committed cheerleader than Gov. Gavin Newsom, who forcefully defended Biden in television interviews and on the campaign trail against calls to drop out. But in the weeks since Biden did just that, passing the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris, Newsom retreated from the role of surrogate. In the early phase of the reformulated Harris campaign, California’s governor has made just a handful of social media posts and public statements in support of the new Democratic nominee as his focus has shifted to clearing homeless encampments and launching a new weekly podcast with with former football player Marshawn Lynch and sports agent Doug Hendrickson. It’s a complicated dynamic for two of California’s most high-profile political leaders, who became friendly professional rivals as they rose simultaneously through San Francisco and statewide elected office. Newsom, widely regarded as a future presidential contender, could see his ambitions delayed and diminished if Harris is elected in November. Harris is working to quickly redefine herself for voters as her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, targets her as a radical who...