California’s two most prominent Democrats remain mum on their future plans, but former Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Gavin Newsom both took time to tend to their political personas in Compton on Thursday, attending separate events at local schools.
As hundreds of graduating seniors crossed the stage in their blue and white regalia in the early morning at Compton High School, many paused to shake hands and take selfies with an honored guest on the dais: the former vice president, who’d made a surprise appearance after being invited by a graduating student.
Several hours later, Newsom read to young students at Compton’s Clinton Elementary School before standing with local leaders in front of a cheery, cartoon mural to launch a new state literacy plan. The issue is one of deep importance to the governor, whose own education was often defined by his dyslexia.
Their appearances, which occurred a few miles apart, were “coincidental,” Newsom said. But they come at a moment when both high-octane Democrats are in a political limbo of sorts.
The pair are viewed as potential 2028 presidential candidates, but the California political world is also waiting on tenterhooks to see whether Harris enters California’s 2026 race for governor — a move that would almost certainly preclude a 2028 presidential bid. Harris is expected to make a decision by summer, and her entrance would upend the already crowded race.
With just 19 months left in his second and final term, the lame duck governor is scrambling to cement his gubernatorial legacy while also positioning himself as a pragmatic leader capable of steering his national party out of the wilderness. Harris, meanwhile, must decide whether she actually wants to govern a famously unwieldy state and, if she does, whether California voters feel the same.
Both Harris and Newsom were notably absent at the state party convention last weekend, as thousands of party delegates, activists, donors and labor leaders convened in Anaheim.
Newsom was a famously loyal surrogate to then-President Biden. But in recent months, with his “This Is Gavin Newsom” podcast and its long guest list of Trump supporters, the governor has worked to publicly differentiate his brand from that of his bedraggled party, one controversial interview at a time.
Meanwhile, Newsom — who previously scoffed at the speculation and said he wasn’t considering a bid for the White House, despite his manifest ambitions — is more openly acknowledging that he could run for the country’s top job in the future.
“I might,” Newsom said in an interview last month. “I don’t know, but I have to have a burning why, and I have to have a compelling vision that distinguishes myself from anybody else. Without that, without both, … I don’t deserve to even be in the conversation.”
Newsom demurred Thursday when asked whether he thought Harris would run for governor.
“Look, I got someone right behind me running for governor, so I’m going to be very careful here,” Newsom said to laughter, as California Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond — who announced his 2026 gubernatorial bid back in September 2023 — smiled behind him.
Harris attended the Compton High graduation at the invitation of Compton Unified School District Student Board member Myshay Causey, a student-athlete and graduating senior. She did not speak at the ceremony, though she received an honorary diploma.
Times staff writer Taryn Luna contributed to this report.
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