LOS ANGELES — Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris, two potential Democratic presidential candidates in 2028, appeared together in public on Sunday for the first time all year, but there were few hints of what would happen after Tuesday’s election.

The two California Democrats gave rousing speeches supporting Xavier Becerra, the Democratic candidate vying to succeed Newsom as California governor, in front of several hundred supporters at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles.

Newsom and Harris are longtime friends going back to their early political days in San Francisco, though they have also been seen as rivals who have avoided competing directly against each other despite their meteoric rises over the past two decades. Each is considering a run for president, which could put them on a collision course.

Newsom has said he will not run for president if Harris does, leading to a degree of intrigue about their appearance Sunday night.

But they were disciplined, keeping their remarks focused on Becerra and rallying Democrats to flip control of Congress. They did not interact in front of the cameras in any way that gave even a hint of their current vibes.

After Harris spoke, Newsom took the stage to the tune of “California Love.” He mentioned her briefly.

“That was Kamala Harris in the house,” he said. “A big round of applause.”

As the rally ended, they both took the stage with Becerra. With Harris on one side and Newsom on the other, they held their hands aloft in celebration.

Election seasons have brought Harris and Newsom together off and on for more than two decades. They rose from the same political circle in San Francisco, where Newsom was elected mayor and Harris was elected district attorney on the same day in 2003.

Their careers have advanced on parallel tracks, with the help of many of the same political consultants and donors in San Francisco’s high society.

They’ve risen together with a relationship that’s been described as a sibling rivalry. Harris included a dig at Newsom in her campaign memoir last year, writing that he didn’t return her call when she called him the day President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race. Newsom later said he had publicly endorsed her the same day and responded to her call with a text.

Still, they have stepped up for each other at pivotal moments in their careers. She stumped with him when he was facing a recall in 2021. He stood on the floor of the Democratic National Convention to deliver California’s delegate votes to nominate her for president in 2024. And last year, when Newsom led a ballot initiative to redraw California’s congressional maps, Harris participated in a preelection rally with him.

This year, Harris and Newsom have both traveled the country to stump for Democrats in battleground states, stoking speculation about their own ambitions and whether they could collide in a presidential matchup. But they had not appeared together until Sunday.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Laurel Rosenhall and Vik Jolly/Gabriela Bhaskar
c. 2026 The New York Times Company