The best man and guest at a Napa Valley wedding for ultra-wealthy Billy Getty - who became California's 'political siblings': How Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris used the rich and connected San Francisco elite to propel them into potential 2028 rivals

It was June 1999 in California's Napa Valley and the bride rode into her wedding, sidesaddle on a speckled horse, her wealthy Prince Charming waiting to help her down.

All of San Francisco society - its powerful families and ambitious newcomers - had gathered for the glittering Renaissance-themed union of Vanessa Jarman and oil heir Billy Getty. 

Getty's best man was Gavin Newsom. Conducting the ceremony was Newsom’s father Bill. And, sitting in the audience, was Vanessa’s new friend, Kamala Harris.

The wedding was a microcosm of San Francisco politics as guests whose family names - Getty, Brown, Pelosi - criss-cross through the generations were joined by some of the candidates they support. 

And, for political siblings Newsom and Harris, then both in their early 30s, it was the start of separate paths to power that could soon converge and see them competing against each other for the highest office in the land.

‘Gavin and Kamala were very much kind of rising at the same time in San Francisco,’ James Reginato, Vanity Fair writer at large and author of ‘Growing Up Getty,’ told DailyMail.com.

Newsom, now 56, and Harris, now 59, would rise in parallel, both winning offices in San Francisco that launched their national careers. 

The city has launched some of California’s biggest Democratic names - Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein, Willie Brown - and it would do the same for Newsom and Harris.

But their rise together meant a constant overlap. They moved in the same political circles, were both friends with the mega-wealthy Gettys, wooed the same donors, and hired some of the same consultants.

In 2003, Newsom ran to be San Francisco mayor and Harris the city's district attorney, and they both won.

That resulted in the city's youngest mayor in more than 100 years and the state's first black district attorney being sworn in together in January 2004.

Newsom told NBC earlier this year: 'We knew each other before we were both in politics. The day I got sworn in as mayor, walked across the street, she got sworn in as district attorney. Extraordinarily close working relationship, including her time in the Senate, my time up here.'

Harris would go on to make a national name for herself as a senator from the state, using her prosecutorial skills to grill Donald Trump’s nominees in Congress.

Newsom made his name as mayor.

In 2004, Newsom decided his city would ignore the law and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The move rocketed the then-36-year-old Democrat to national attention.

He and his then wife, Kimberly Guilfoyle, were the toast of the town and posed for a photo in Harper’s Bazaar, lounging on the floor in designer clothing surrounded by antiques.

They posed in the home of heiress Ann Getty, the San Francisco bay visible in the window behind them.

Newsom was considered a son by Gordon and Ann Getty – the philanthropists from one of world’s wealthiest families. 

Gordon and his brother Paul – the sons of oil magnate J. Paul Getty - went to school with Gavin’s father, Bill Newsom II, spending most of their childhood at the Newsom’s home due to their own parents absence. Gordon considered Bill’s father William as a father to him.

Bill Newsom became a judge and later managed the Getty family trust on behalf of Gordon, which is estimated to be worth more than $2 billion.

Gavin spent much of his childhood running around the Getty home in San Francisco’s wealthy Pacific Heights area.

Reginato said Newsom has a ‘blood relationship’ with the Getty family that goes back 80 years to his grandfather’s time.

‘Gordon Getty is not a political kind of operator like the Koch brothers,’ Reginato said, pointing to the wealthy and politically active Republican family. ‘There's real love between’ the Newsoms and the Gettys.

The Gettys would help fund Newsom’s first business venture, a San Francisco wine store called PlumpJack. That business would grow to include boutique hotels, wineries, bars and restaurants mostly in Northern California.

Newsom, who grew up poor with divorced parents, become a millionaire.

The Gettys would be there for him in good times and bad. Members of the family donated more than $500,000 to his various successful political campaigns.

Ann and Gordon Getty also threw his wedding reception in 2001, when he married Guilfoyle, a prosecutor and former Victoria's Secret model, in what the San Francisco Chronicle called ‘the social event of the year.’

The party at the Getty mansion had 500 guests, including author Danielle Steel.

But absent were Billy and Vanessa Getty – he and Gavin had a rift in their friendship tied to a disagreement about Plumpjack. Billy’s father Gordy Getty, 90, remains close to Gavin and bought out Billy's share of the business. Gordon later bought out Newsom's share when Newsom was elected mayor.

After Newsom and Guilfoyle’s marriage ended in divorce, it was revealed Newsom had an affair with an aide who, at the time, was married a close friend.

The affair happened in 2005 with Ruby Rippey-Tourk, wife of Alex Tourk, Newsom's former deputy chief of staff, who had been running Newsom's mayoral re-election campaign.

After The San Francisco Chronicle broke the story in February 2007, then-Mayor Newsom confessed.

'Everything you've heard and read is true,' he told a press conference. 'And I am deeply sorry about that.'

Newsom declared, 'I've hurt someone I care deeply about, Alex Tourk, and that is something I have to live with.'

He later married Jennifer Siebel, an actress and filmmaker. They have four children.

There are other famous names who boosted Newsom along the way. He got his start in politics from legendary San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who appointed Newsom to the city’s Parking and Traffic Commission.

Brown would later appoint Newsom to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors at the urging of Democratic lawmaker John Burton, who was childhood friends with Newsom’s father.

Newsom and his family were also friends with Jerry Brown, the former governor of the state. Jerry Brown’s father, Pat Brown, ran for San Francisco district attorney, losing in 1939 but winning in 1943, with the help of his close friend and Gavin Newsom’s grandfather, William Newsom.

And one of Newsom’s father’s sisters – Barbara – married Ron Pelosi. Barbara Newsom and Ron Pelosi divorced in 1977. But Ron’s brother Paul married a girl from a Baltimore political family: Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi.

Taking an alternative route through San Francisco politics was Kamala Harris. The daughter of immigrants and born on the wrong side of the bay – literally across the bridge in Oakland – Harris dated legendary San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown for two years, splitting with him after his election as mayor.

Brown was 31 years Harris' senior. They met when he was 60 and Harris was 29. He was married at the time but separated from his wife.

They remained friends after their breakup. And when Brown became the state Assembly speaker, he helped her like he aided Newsom.

Brown put her on the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and the California Medical Assistance Commission, part-time posts that supplemented her prosecutor’s salary with nearly $100,000 in extra annual pay.

Harris also knew how to work her connections – taking any offers to join boards like the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco and the San Francisco Jazz Organization; going to galas like the San Francisco Symphony’s annual Black & White Ball; and having her photo taken at all the society events.

When she first ran for district attorney, she used her society connections to put together her finance committee, which included Vanessa Getty. And she raised money in the living rooms of homes in Pacific Heights – the neighborhood of the Gettys, the Pelosis, and the Newsoms.

As she rose in the city’s politics and high society, she would often run into Newsom.

Both were seen as rising stars: him for his natural charisma and her for her personal story that appealed to both black and white, progressive and moderate voters.

Together, they ascended California political rungs: first as lieutenant governor (Newsom) and state attorney general (Harris), and later as governor and senator.

The two have been described as 'frenemies.' Both seen as ambitious potential rivals for higher office, they have worked out their career paths in the past - endorsing one another without competing against each other.

There have been close calls.

In 2015, both of them were eyeing the Senate seat left vacant by Barbara Boxer, who decided to retire. But Newsom ended up deferring to Harris, opting to run for governor instead.

Each won their races. When Harris ran for president in the 2020 contest, Newsom was quick to endorse her. And she repaid the favor when she was vice president, campaigning for him in 2021, when he faced a recall election as governor. Newsom ultimately prevailed and stayed in office.

Now both are seen as eyeing a White House bid in 2028.

‘There’s always been a healthy dose of California competition’ between them, a California Democratic strategist told DailyMail.com.

But, ahead of that next step in their political lives, is the 2024 presidential election where Harris will be on the ballot as Joe Biden’s running mate and Newsom will be a top surrogate for the campaign – as he was on Thursday night in a debate with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.

Next year’s contest could prove a testing of the waters for each of them.

Because, as the strategist warned, there is a lot that could happen in the next five years - including the results of the 2024 election and concerns about Joe Biden’s health.

Those factors could affect what ends up happening in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary, and whether or not the two would finally compete directly against each other.

‘What does happen the next few years could cascade a number of different things,’ the strategist said.