California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said he will not run for president in 2028 if former vice president Kamala Harris seeks the office again.
“Of course not. Why would I?” Newsom told CNN’s Jake Tapper in a clip released Monday. “I wouldn’t do that to her. I wouldn’t do it to me. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
The governor said it would be a “waste of everyone’s time” for him to pursue a presidential bid if Harris did again.
Neither of the pair, who share deep roots in California politics, have explicitly said they will launch a 2028 run, but both have indicated they are considering it. In the new video, Newsom said having them both in the primary field would be “mutual assured destruction,” citing their overlapping political bases and circles.
“The [Venn] diagram on that is just pure crossover,” Newsom said while fly-fishing with Tapper in an interview that is set to air in full Tuesday.
The remarks appear to be the first time that Newsom, widely viewed as a top-tier Democratic contender for 2028, has directly said he would not stand in Harris’s way if she wanted to go after the presidency once more.
Newsom made the same vow ahead of the 2024 race, as pressure for President Joe Biden to drop out intensified and some speculated that the California governor might be interested in replacing him. Newsom was quick to endorse Harris, throwing his support behind her before she was even elevated to the top of the ticket.
Her loss in the general election to Donald Trump devastated Democrats, many of whom now say the party needs a new direction. But Harris would enter any race with high name recognition and the chance to orchestrate a campaign on a full timeline that she did not have in 2024.
Newsom has been among more than a dozen high-profile leaders to court speculation that he will stage a run.
“You have to feel like you can stand on that stage with what, 30?” he said in the new interview, adding shortly after there could be “31 flavors” of Democrats eyeing the White House.
Newsom and Harris were rising stars of California’s political universe for decades, never circling too far from each other. Both of their careers centered on San Francisco, where Newsom served as mayor before seeking a governor’s office role, and Harris was a prosecutor and district attorney before she became the California attorney general.
Another Californian, Rep. Ro Khanna (D), is also considering a 2028 run. Other potential Democratic contenders include Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. Jon Ossoff (Georgia) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York).
Newsom has generated considerable interest, especially in 2025, for his willingness to mock and confront Trump.
“You gotta be honest with yourself,” Newsom told Tapper in the new clip. “Do you represent the zeitgeist of the moment?”
Why is Harris somehow considered the favorite to win? She doesn’t stand a chance.
Nobody wants to bring back the weak, cowardly Biden era. We’re looking for Warriors, and that’s not Newsome or Harris.
I’m tired of Corpo-Establishment Dems. They’re the reason MAGA regained power. They don’t get a second chance to hand it back to MAGA.
Let’s talk about Mark Kelly, or AOC, or Ossoff.
Because currently she leads polls due to name recognition mainly.
DNC needs to learn the polls are meaningless. Kamala was certain to win Iowa by potentially +14 points. Yeah, that was a lie. We saw this fake-poll effect in 2016.
So either people are ashamed to admit they’re voting for Trump, they lied to skew the polls, the polls aren’t reliable anymore due to sample size or they are being intentionally rigged behind the scenes somehow. Whatever it is they don’t work anymore.
Also most tech savvy people don’t receive a text saying “we’re from so-and-so polling company, would you like to click this shortened URL to take a political poll??” and think “I should click that link.”
Unsolicited calls and texts go straight in the circular file.
DNC literally not mentioned in the article.
They haven’t backed anyone, haven’t put forward anyone.
This is literally just a dumb poll and a dumb article that is years out and literally only has Harris leading because people know her name.
Kelly and Ossoff both voted for the Laken Reilly act so they can both go right to hell
Kelly is a zionism supporter. No Kelly.
Well, that blows. This Zionist stuff is new, and I have to re-calibrate who I’m supporting and how much, depending on their commitment to Zionism, and ESPECIALLY if they are denying the Gaza Genocide.
I am also giving them a bit of time to understand which way the winds are blowing, and that anti-Israeli sentiment is not going to abate, and change their tunes. A lot of Dems took AIPAC money like everyone else, without thinking that it meant someday they would have to defend genocide. I’m willing to allow those people to see the error of their ways, and change directions.
By the end of this year, though, I expect ALL Dems to be vocally anti-genocide, critical of Israel, and completely divested from AIPAC money. Any that can’t go along with those moral positions needs to be primaried in their next campaign.
I’ll have to check out Kelly, and then re-assess my support. Zionists are pro-Genicide, and that’s absolutely unforgivable in my book.
I always saw Harris as warrior in comparison to Biden
Everybody is a warrior compared to Biden.