Kamala Harris lost the presidential election by seven million votes.
Now California taxpayers are funding her comeback tour – and Gavin Newsom won't say how much it's costing.
That number is locked away in Sacramento, and every time someone asks, Newsom slams the door.
The Arrangement Newsom Doesn't Want You to Know About
When Trump canceled Kamala's federal Secret Service protection in September 2025, Newsom stepped in immediately.
Dozens of California Highway Patrol officers were quietly reassigned – pulled off California's highways and crime-ridden streets – and handed to Kamala Harris for her international book tour.
Not a state function. Not a public ceremony. A commercial book tour promoting 107 Days, her memoir about losing to Donald Trump.
Those officers have accompanied Harris to stops in New York, Philadelphia, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, London, Toronto, and more than two dozen other cities. The travel costs – flights, hotels, meals, overtime – are billed to California taxpayers.
Local Sacramento news station KCRA 3 filed a public records request on March 4 asking for exactly one thing: how much is this costing?
Newsom's office referred them to CHP. CHP said the costs "would reveal sensitive security information."
The California Constitution guarantees the public the right to know how its money is spent. Sacramento just decided you don't need to know.
The Secret Service Already Answered the Threat Question
Here's the detail Sacramento doesn't want discussed.
Before Trump ended Harris's federal protection, the Secret Service conducted a threat assessment. Their conclusion: no credible threat to Kamala Harris existed.
Think about what that means. The federal government – the people whose actual job is assessing threats to former officials – looked at Kamala Harris and said she doesn't need protection. Newsom ignored that and handed her a state police escort anyway. California taxpayers aren't funding security. They're funding a political operation.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton called it exactly what it is. "The Kamala Harris book tour is obviously part of her presidential campaign," Hilton said. "Her donors – if she has any – should be paying for her security, not Californians who already pay the highest taxes in the country for the worst results."
Hilton pledged to cancel the arrangement on day one if elected governor, calling it a "corrupt freebie." He added that California's CHP officers "have enough on their plate dealing with the Democrats' crime wave without having to traipse around after a failed and rejected machine politician who can't bear to be out of the limelight."
Republican Assemblyman Tom Lackey – who spent 28 years as a CHP officer himself – told KCRA the total is significant. "All I know is it's a lot," Lackey said. "It is a significant amount of money."
Nobody in Sacramento will say exactly how much. Not Newsom. Not CHP. Not Harris's campaign. Not her book publisher Simon & Schuster.
A $14 Million Millionaire Running a Transparency Block
While California taxpayers fund her security, Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff – a well-connected attorney – are doing just fine.
They recently purchased an $8.15 million mansion in Malibu's Point Dume neighborhood. Panoramic ocean views, a pool, a jacuzzi, a putting green. They still own their Brentwood mansion. Their combined net worth is reported at $14 million.
Meanwhile, Newsom is presiding over a state budget the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office says faces multiyear deficits ranging from $20 billion to $35 billion annually. Every dollar spent shuttling CHP officers to Kamala's book tour stops is a dollar pulled from the state's tightest budget in a generation.
Harris has already canceled her California tour stops – Sacramento, San Diego, and Anaheim were all scrubbed this month. Ticketmaster blamed a "scheduling conflict." Her campaign offered no explanation.
The remaining stops are concentrated in presidential primary battlegrounds: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia.
That's not a book tour. That's a campaign.
Gavin Newsom is using your money to fund it – and he's daring you to prove it.
Call your state representative today and demand a public accounting of every dollar spent on this arrangement. If Sacramento won't answer a reporter's records request, they'll answer yours when enough of you ask at once.
Sources:
- Ashley Zavala, "Newsom administration won't say how much Kamala Harris' CHP security detail is costing California taxpayers," KCRA 3, March 30, 2026.
- Brooke Mallory, "Calif. taxpayers funding multi-city, int'l security detail for Harris' book tour," OAN, March 4, 2026.
- Bob Hoge, "CA Taxpayers – Did You Know You're Footing the Security Bill for Kamala's International Book Tour?" RedState, March 3, 2026.
- "Steve Hilton vows to end California taxpayer-funded security for Kamala Harris's book tour if elected governor," Conservative News Journal, March 2026.
- "Kamala Harris Cancels California Book Tour Stops Amid Questions Over Taxpayer-Funded Security," RVM News, March 2026.
