California Governor Gavin Newsom has revealed that he won’t run for president in 2028 if former Vice President Kamala Harris does.
Newsom is considered a top potential Democratic candidate in the next presidential election, which is a little more than two years away. While the governor is still weighing a potential run, he told CNN’s Jake Tapper in a new interview that he wouldn’t throw his hat in the ring if Harris was in the race.
“I wouldn’t run if she ran,” Newsom said while fly fishing in Montana with Tapper as part of a series where the news anchor chats with politicians in some of their favorite places. “Why would I? I wouldn’t do that to her. I wouldn’t do that to you. I wouldn’t waste everyone’s time.”
When Tapper asked Newsom to explain, the governor suggested that pitting two California Democrats against each other would force their shared base to choose between them, handing an advantage to the other candidates.
“Electorally, it’s a gift from God for everybody else. They’d enjoy the hell out of it — mutual assured destruction. It services no greater good,” Newsom said.
open image in galleryThe governor endorsed Harris when former President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential election, writing on X, “With our democracy at stake and our future on the line, no one is better to prosecute the case against Donald Trump’s dark vision and guide our country in a healthier direction than [Harris].”
Newsom, who has gained popularity during Donald Trump’s second term for mocking the president online, also has five other people to consider when deciding to run in 2028 — his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and their four kids.
“I know what matters in life,” Newsom told Tapper in a clip of their interview, which will air in full Tuesday. “I’ve got four kids. It’s the only thing that matters to me. They gotta be on board.”
When Politico’s Jonathan Martin asked Newsom in a March interview whether his kids would want him to run for president, the governor said, “It depends on the day of the week.”
Newsom then told a story of his teenage son asking him about running in 2028.
When Newsom denied that he had decided on a presidential bid, his son said, “Good.” The California governor then asked him what he meant by that, and his son replied, “We’re too young and you need to spend more time with us.”
open image in galleryOther names widely floated as potential Democratic candidates in 2028 are progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Biden’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who ran for president in 2020.
In a Bowling Green State University/YouGov poll of likely voters released earlier this month, Harris received 17 percent of support for the Democratic nomination and Newsom received 14 percent.
Buttigieg closely trailed Harris with 16 percent support and Ocasio-Cortez tied Newsom at 14 percent.
On the GOP side, Vice President JD Vance received 44 percent support for the Republican nomination and Secretary of State Marco Rubio received 21 percent.