Naomi Lim of the Washington Examiner writes about two of California’s most high-profile Democrats and the next presidential contest.

Vice President Kamala Harris has one advantage over Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) if a Democratic presidential primary were held tomorrow, according to party members in their home state of California.

That edge is that she is not a white man, those Democrats say.

Regardless of who contests next year’s general election, the political chattering class is talking about the prospects of Harris, regarded by some as President Joe Biden’s heir apparent, and Newsom, who has been rapidly building his national profile, including by debating 2024 Republican presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).

Some Democrats at a California state party convention in Sacramento contend Newsom will cede to Harris, based on their shared histories in San Francisco when Newsom was mayor and Harris was district attorney and, then in California’s capital, when Newsom was lieutenant governor and Harris was attorney general. But other party members are of the opinion that the next primary should be an open, competitive race.

Aja, 42, of Sacramento, who preferred not to provide her last name, dismissed speculation that Newsom is in the middle of a shadow 2024 primary campaign against Biden as he introduces himself to the country, even through Fox News, and takes trips to the likes of China. She was also adamant that there was no “animosity” between Harris and Newsom, whom she calls Gov. Bruce Wayne because he is a “wealthy, good-looking philanthropist,” since “they all came up through the ranks together.”

“I think with the way politics is going, if I had to make one point, she might have the edge because people are tired of wealthy, white men getting the nomination,” Aja told the Washington Examiner.

Aja, a healthcare worker, defended Harris from criticism of her vice presidential record, saying that “nobody paid attention to the vice president until it was a half-Indian, half-black woman” and that she is Biden’s “face of the pro-choice movement.”