As rising stars in the California Democratic Party, Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom avoided a competitive race in 2015 when Harris chose to run for U.S. Senate and Newsom announced his candidacy for governor.

Newsom said this week he was shying away from the possibility of a bigger head-to-head showdown with Harris for the White House.

The California governor reiterated a statement he made last year that he would not run against Harris, but the move took on new meaning after Biden's performance in the presidential debates in June led many in his party to call for him to drop out of the race.

While Biden has vowed to continue his reelection bid, and Newsom has staunchly supported that decision, Harris and the California governor have been widely mentioned as alternatives for the Democratic presidential nominee — a plausible claim given that Harris appears to be the front-runner for vice president and is already in the running for 2024.

“Absolutely,” Newsom said when asked if he would still recuse himself from running against Harris. “Yes.”

If that happens, his decision could save the party and its donors from having to choose between two of California's most prominent politicians.

If Biden withdraws and doesn't challenge Harris, Newsom's road to the White House would be longer and his presidential ambitions would be put on hold until 2028 at the earliest. Harris, meanwhile, could be leading a last-minute rescue mission to salvage the Democratic campaign against former President Trump and fulfill her own presidential dreams.

For Newsom, avoiding this showdown would also be a tacit acknowledgement of political reality: Trying to skip over the vice president, and possibly the first Black woman president, would not bode well for the governor or most other Democrats.

His own chances of becoming the Democratic nominee may also increase in four years' time.

“Now is not the time to flex his muscle, and I think Gavin Newsom understands that,” said Amy Allison, founder and president of See the People.

Allison's organization, which advocates for more women of color to be elected to public office, is advocating for Biden to choose Harris as his running mate in the 2020 presidential election and is urging voters to support the cause.

At the time, Biden projected he would be a one-term president. Picking Harris was a way to resuscitate her political career after Biden's own presidential campaign fizzled, and raise the possibility that he might hand the baton to her before this year's primary elections.

Allison praised Newsom's recent ad campaign slamming efforts to strip reproductive rights in conservative states and his political attacks on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, but said he still has work to do to make himself known to the public.

“My sense is that the current generational change led by Kamala Harris makes sense and is the strategy that gives Democrats the closest they can get to winning at this late stage in the election cycle,” Allison said.

Harris is in the polls He has a lead over other Democratic candidates. She also appears to be performing That's roughly the same as Biden's standing against Trump in the polls.But the longer Biden resists, the shorter that window of opportunity becomes and the harder it will be for someone else to mount a campaign if he drops out.

Biden praised Harris during a news conference on Thursday and reaffirmed his commitment to the campaign.

“She's qualified to be president, and that's why I chose her,” Trump said of choosing her as his 2020 running mate.

Newsom initially said he would not run against Harris in the September election. Interview with Chuck Todd Speaking on NBC's “Meet the Press,” Biden had already launched his reelection campaign but rumors continued about whether the president should seek reelection. The governor made it clear that he supports Biden and said that Harris would be the natural candidate to run if the president were to drop out of the race.

During a campaign tour of battleground states earlier this week, Newsom said he believed Harris could beat Trump, having known her since before she entered politics.

“I have no doubt about it,” he told reporters in New Hampshire, “if that were to happen, but I don't expect that to happen.”

A native of Oakland, Harris served as a prosecutor in Alameda County and San Francisco for 13 years before running for and winning the office of San Francisco district attorney in 2003. She then served as California's attorney general from 2011 to 2017, before going on to serve as a U.S. senator.

Newsom, a member of her generation, grew up in San Francisco and began his career as a parking commissioner in 1996. A businessman who owns a chain of wineries, hotels and retail stores, he soon became a San Francisco city council member and was elected mayor in 2003. He served two terms as California's lieutenant governor and won the 2018 gubernatorial election.

The governor largely avoided directly answering a question about whether he would run to succeed Biden in the afterglow of a late June debate in Atlanta, where he appeared as the president's surrogate. Biden struggled to answer the question, occasionally stuttering, leaving Newsom open to a barrage of questions about his ambitions amid panic among Democrats.

But Newsom has remained a campaign warrior, reiterating his support for Biden as the party's nominee. In an attempt to solidify his support for the president, Newsom has dismissed concerns about Biden's mental health and cited personal interactions as evidence of his fitness for the presidency.

“I'm sure 100 media outlets have asked me the same question, but I think I've answered my support for the president well and the support I saw on the ground was clear,” Newsom said at a news conference at Sacramento's McClellan Airport on Wednesday after returning from a campaign stop.

Newsom also reaffirmed his stance that he will not run against Harris for president. Just days before, another senior Democratic Party leader, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, also She said she wasn't considering running. If Biden resigns.

Thad Koussar, a political science professor at the University of California, San Diego, said it was politically smart for Newsom to abandon any Hail Mary attempts to become the party's nominee at the August convention.

Newsom can score points by being a staunch supporter of the Democratic candidate, regardless of whether Biden or Harris prevails. He can continue to use his opportunities to surrogate for the Democratic candidate, appearing in debates and traveling the country to reach more voters across the country without undermining Biden or Harris. And he can wait for the dust to die down before deciding on a future presidential outlook.

“He's made a virtue out of reality,” Kuser said. “Certainly, he took this role and gave up the short-term possibility of leading Democrats to victory in 2024. He's set himself up pretty well for 2028 and beyond.”

A victory for either Harris or Biden in November would make Harris the favorite to win again in 2028, putting Newsom in a tough spot if he wanted to run at that point. A Democratic loss in November would wipe out Harris' presidential hopes along with the race, clearing the way for Newsom or someone else to win the nomination four years from now.

Such a defeat would mean Newsom's final two years as governor would be spent fighting a high-profile battle with a hostile President Trump, and could set the stage for a 2028 re-election campaign in which California's biggest rival is already neutralized.

“If Joe Biden or any other Democrat loses, Gavin Newsom is sure to become the leader of the opposition to Donald Trump,” Kooser said, “because he's been the most vocal critic of the direction Donald Trump is trying to take America.”

Times Staff writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report.