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?”
Not beating the accusations that the DNC primary is rigged
I’m mentally preparing for President Tucker Carlson or President Kanye West come 2028 already. Thank you.
Anyone who manages to lose an election to Donald J. Trump should in a rational world never show their face in politics ever again.
Correct. But one of the many problems with the DNC is the ego’s of some of the candidates. Like who ever thought Klobuchar was a potential president? She has anti-charisma same as Kamala and Hillary.
Kamala being so cold and unlikable is what made her a decent prosecutor but prosecutors don’t win the presidency. A few have tried in history and they all failed. It’s their personalities. It doesn’t suit the presidency and people will not get exited to vote for such a person.
Sorry but the DNC threw away 2 elections and we are suffering the consequences of “a girl for president no matter what” which means I’m not really into the first women president push (until an actual winnable candidate comes along.)
I sure hope Kamala doesn’t run again.
Also, Kamala trying to pander to the minority vote, when as AG for California, she was responsible for sentencing a lot of black people to jail with her “tough-on-crime” policies.
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.
I always saw Harris as warrior in comparison to Biden
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.”
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
“If Kamala runs then I already know we’re going to lose so I don’t need to step in to ensure we lose, she’s got it covered. If she doesn’t run, well then I have to because someone that might actually help people might win and we can’t have that.”
“Someone has to run a counter offensive against the left, so fascism can succeed”
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”
If you know your political base is exactly the same as someone who already ran and lost, maybe that’s a sign that there’s something deficient with your politics.
How about neither? Neither is good.
Neither is best
We live in hell. These are the options… Corpo Lameduck, or Corpo Sleezebag.
Ya know, while we’re at it, lets just give Hillary another shot too. Like a cascade of shit. If not Hillary then Kamala, if not Kamala then Newsome, if not Newsome then Fetterman…
Don’t give them ideas, I could see it happening. Or Chelsea.
Fuck it just have Cheney run
Still, corpo sleezebag is a proven pedophile, fraudulent rapist who is actively robbing you blind, trying to cheat the election any way he can, tried to overthrow the government. I’ll take corpo lameduck over the sleezebag anytime
oh, you thought I comparing them to trump? nonono… both Newsome and Kamala are corpo cronies. Kamala is lame, and Newsome is a sleaze
Are they preferable to Trump?.. sure, but that’s like, the bare minimum. And it’s how the DNC gets away with providing such absolute dogshit candidates… their argument will be “well, if you don’t like it then you get trump” and so we’re forced to just accept our hyper liberal overlords who will continue to fuck us.
I think I got the midterms and presidential election mixed up
Neither.
I’ll say it again, I don’t give a fuck who runs in the primary so long as we have a fair and honest primary without any DNC shenanigans.
If Harris runs and newsom drops out maybe this is great, we can primary someone who can actually win!
I want that to be true.
But history has shown that they’d shoehorn the centrist and lose, then wring their hands in despair and wonder how it happened while the answer is obvious to everyone who isn’t part of the DNC.
We’ve got time, and progressives are winning at all levels of government right now. We’ve got a huge midterm battle coming up too
That’s certainly what will happen if we don’t fight… But things move fast these days. We’ve got more than a year to make sure that doesn’t happen, and who can predict where we’ll be in a year?
I agree with this, the momentum is building away from the previous status quo, Kamala lost and everyone knows this, she’s better than Trump but I think someone even better is going to emerge that can dunk MAGA into the dust bin.
Watch as lemmings have a meltdown over their two biggest hatesinks, even though only one of them actually has real reasons to be hated.
¿Por qué no ninguno de los dos?
Holy fucking Jesus.
Both shouldn’t
