As she pokes around for her next job, Kamala Harris should not bank on receiving a glowing reference from her former boyfriend and political patron, Willie Brown.
The heavyweight California politico and former San Francisco mayor dismissed Harris's rumored ambitions to run for governor of the state, calling her qualifications the wrong "fit."
“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 on the State of Gold podcast.
Recent polls suggest that Harris would be the frontrunner to replace term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) if she decided to run.
But many Democrats are reluctant for Harris to stay in the spotlight after her humiliating loss to President Trump last fall.
Shockingly, the party's official election autopsy will reportedly overlook mistakes made by Harris and her former boss, Joe Biden, who endorsed her after suspending his own re-election campaign.
Harris has apparently downsized her ambitions, with Politico reporting that she plans to decide by the end of the summer on running for governor of her home state.
Snubbing his former lover, Brown said there are other Democrats who would do better in an executive role like governor. He suggested Harris go for a legal job like attorney general or even Supreme Court justice.
“There’s just so many really talented people thinking about that job,” Brown said.
“She may not want to run for governor of the state of California,” he said. "That may not be where she should be going. I think it’s going to be difficult for her to win that job.”
Brown infamously dated Harris briefly in the 1990s when she was an up-and-coming prosecutor in Alameda County, and he was the speaker of the California state Assembly.
Brown used his influence at the time to appoint his much younger then-girlfriend to two state California boards, and Harris has never been able to live down accusations of nepotism since then.
Harris has been in career limbo since her much-hyped presidential campaign imploded in the fall, sending Democrats into the political wilderness.
Brown's expectations of his former girlfriend's political future seem to have dimmed since November. He was effusive about a Harris presidency last year - before Democrats lost the White House, the national popular vote and the U.S. Senate.
“I was a part of every campaign that she’s ever been involved in, supported her religiously and will still do so, and I am just looking forward for the next 89 days. I just can’t wait to get in as president,” he added at the time.
