Vice President Kamala Harris’ 90-year-old ex-boyfriend, Willie Brown, believes President Joe Biden should step down as president so she can take over.
Brown candidly shared his thoughts on Harris, whom he dated when he was 60 and running for mayor of San Francisco, and she was a relatively unknown 29-year-old prosecutor.
Brown joked that if Harris won the presidency, “she’d deport my ass,” a joke he has long made about his ex-girlfriend-turned-political protégé.
He made his comments in an interview with Politico columnist Jonathan Martin.
Brown also expressed concern that Harris had “Hillary syndrome” and that “people didn’t like her,” which he said was an unsolvable problem.
Harris considers the former California Assembly speaker and former San Francisco mayor one of her political mentors.
Wille Brown and Kamala Harris when they were dating in San Francisco
Brown also revealed that Harris was not former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s first choice for president and that she worked to ensure that her other political protégé, Gov. Gavin Newsom, fully endorsed Harris.
Brown confirmed the story of how when he was dating Kamala Harris in the 1990s and attending an event at Harvard, then-business developer Donald Trump flew Brown, Harris and their team aboard his private jet for a meeting in New York.
Harris was not at the meeting, but Brown says he has a photo of him and Harris on Trump’s plane.
Brown said former President Donald Trump was successful in politics because of his celebrity.
“He’s an artist, that’s all,” he said.
Brown gave Harris a significant boost in her political career, as detailed in Amateur hour: Kamala Harris in the White House.
When they were dating, Brown was considered the most powerful politician in California and, although still married, was estranged from his wife Blanche, who lived in a separate house from him.
Willie Brown recommended that Joe Biden resign and let Harris take over as president while he runs for president
US Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally in Atlanta, Georgia,
Brown appointed Harris to two different state boards, which paid her more than $400,000 over five years and gave her the keys to a BMW. She opened doors to the rich and powerful in San Francisco.
Brown broke up with Harris after a year of dating, but was always there to lend a hand during her political career.
During his first campaign as San Francisco district attorney, Brown donated to his campaign and helped raise money for the race.
Harris famously embarrassed Brown during her campaign, insisting that her romantic and political connection with the mayor was over.
“Willie Brown is not going to be with us. He’s gone. Hey, people, move on,” Harris told SF Weekly in a 2003 magazine profile, insisting she would be “independent” of Brown and that “he would probably be expressing some fear right now about the fact that he can’t control me.”
“Her career is over, I will be alive and active for the next 40 years. I don’t owe her anything,” she said.
It was the last time she would speak publicly about her former lover and political mentor.
Since Harris was endorsed by Democrats as the new presidential candidate, Brown shared her opinion with the San Francisco Standard on their abilities to stand for election and win.
“It’s very easy to underestimate Kamala Harris, but if you do, you’ll look up from the dungeon because the queen will be on the throne,” he said.