In a stunning admission from one of California’s most powerful Democratic insiders, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown — a longtime political patron and past romantic partner of Vice President Kamala Harris — suggested she may be unelectable as governor of California and unsuited for executive office altogether.

The comments came during a podcast appearance this week with Jon Slavet, who relayed the conversation to Los Angeles anchor Elex Michaelson in a segment that is now making waves across the state’s political class.

“She may not want to run for governor of the state of California. That may not be where she should be going. I think it’s going to be difficult for her to win that job,” Brown said in a clip from the interview.

Brown’s candid remarks strike a sharp blow to Harris, whose political future has become a point of desperate speculation among Democrats following her failed 2020 presidential bid and increasingly abysmal approval ratings as vice president.

Slavet described Brown’s tone as sharp but measured — and his perspective as significant, considering his history with Harris and influence inside the Democratic establishment.

“He talked about her strengths in the legal world, but not as an executive, which to me was pretty stunning because this is a guy who knows her very well,” Slavet said. “He’s a legend in Democratic politics… and he actually cares about the future of California authentically, and he in effect said she should try something different.”

Brown’s doubts about Harris’s leadership capacity go beyond the gubernatorial question. Slavet revealed that Brown also advised Harris to reject the vice presidency when Joe Biden offered it to her in 2020 — suggesting she instead pursue a position as Attorney General, where her background in law might have served her better.

“He did. First, he chuckled. He’s got a great kind of knowing chuckle,” Slavet said. “And he said, ‘I got in trouble for this when I said it.’ But what he told me is that… he recommended to her… that he suggest that Biden nominate her as the attorney general.”

“It goes back to this theme of he believes that Kamala is better in the legal world, not as an executive,” Slavet added.

Michaelson continued, noting that Brown reportedly told Harris she’d have a better chance at reaching the Supreme Court via the Attorney General role — a route she clearly rejected.

“He also said after that conversation, she never called him again,” Michaelson said. “So that was apparently not the advice she wanted to hear.”

Slavet then offered a sobering picture of Harris’s national prospects, noting her plummeting polling numbers and evaporated support.

“As of a few months ago, when she was still funded by the US government, right? The VP, I think, has six months of support from the US government… has a team, Secret Service, et cetera… Now that’s evaporated,” Slavet said. “But she was doing a lot of polling to understand her image and standing nationally in 2028. And my understanding from people close to her is that it does not look good.”

“That national standing and running again nationally does not look good for her,” he emphasized. “So the obvious question is, what does she do next?”

According to Slavet, Harris is now likely considering a run for California governor — a position that, under normal Democratic conditions, would seem within reach. But Brown’s brutal honesty and Harris’s cratering favorability may indicate even the deep-blue California political machine isn’t enough to rescue her image.

With both a second presidential run and gubernatorial bid on shaky ground, the vice president once seen as a future party star now faces a career crossroads — and possibly a political dead end.