Ever since Kamala Harris took over the reins of the Democratic campaign for the November presidential election in the United States, Republicans have been only too happy to bring Willie Brown back into the spotlight. The former mayor of San Francisco was the candidate's mentor – and partner for a brief time – in the mid-1990s. She was 29, he was 60. This age difference, according to Donald Trump's supporters, illustrates the ambition that consumes the woman who could become the first female president of the US.

At his press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, on August 8, Trump didn't fail to exploit this detail that is almost 30 years in the past. He claimed to have known Brown well and to have once been with him in a helicopter forced to make an emergency landing. "He was not a fan of [Kamala] very much, at that point," recounted the former president. "He told me terrible things about her."

Brown immediately denied having ever been on an aircraft at risk with Donald Trump or having said anything negative about Harris. He threatened to sue the billionaire if he continued to use his name in an attempt to discredit the Democratic nominee. "I do not want any acquaintanceship with Willie Brown to be a negative for anybody, particularly someone as much of a dear friend as Vice President Harris is," he told CBS on August 18.

Master negotiator

At the age of 90, Brown remains a public figure in California, in a state dominated by Democrats, where the political competition is tough. For 39 million inhabitants, the Golden State has just two US senators, in comparison, this is the same number as North Dakota, which has 770,000 residents. On the other hand, its elected officials are thick-skinned. "Those who succeed here excel elsewhere," said Dan Morain, a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times. In the 1980s and 1990s, Brown was considered the most powerful African-American politician in the country. Until recently, he was a fixture at Le Central Brasserie, until Harris's appointment forced him to be more discreet.

Elected for three decades to the California State Assembly, Brown was its speaker from 1980 to 1995, then he was mayor of San Francisco from 1996 to 2004. Over half a century, he earned a reputation as a master negotiator, a virtuoso of compromise and returned favors (which earned him the interest of the FBI), as well as a fashion icon. His collection of suits (often Italian) numbered up to 500 items. Flamboyant, known for about-face turns, Brown was "the last political showman of the 20^th century," wrote journalist James Richardson (Willie Brown: A Biography, University of California Press, 2023). "I wasn't born bland," Brown has proclaimed.

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