California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would not seek the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination if former Vice President Kamala Harris decides to run, according to an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper released Monday.
“I don’t know if she runs, but we’ll see,” Newsom told Tapper. “But I wouldn’t run if she ran.”
Tapper, who conducted the interview while fly-fishing with Newsom in Montana, pressed him on the statement. “If she runs, you will not,” Tapper said.
“Of course not. Why would I?” Newsom responded. “I wouldn’t do that to her … I wouldn’t do that to you. I wouldn’t waste everyone’s time. Who needs that?”
Newsom suggested that a primary contest between the two would produce what he called “mutual-assured destruction” for Democrats watching the race unfold.
Tapper then offered a counterargument. “But counterargument would be, like, you know, she had her shot. And you’ve never run, and she’s run twice,” he said.
Newsom did not dispute the point. “Yeah,” he said. “I mean, that’d be the approach to the campaign, certainly. That’d be the case you’d make. Pretty good one, actually. That’s objectively true.”
Harris ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 primary before dropping out, then became the party’s 2024 nominee after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race. She lost the general election to Donald Trump.
During the same conversation, Newsom referred to “Zen diagrams” rather than Venn diagrams, a comment that circulated widely on social media after the interview aired.
Neither Newsom nor Harris has formally announced a 2028 presidential bid.
Add comment