Newsom tells CNN he would not enter 2028 race if Harris runs

Newsom says challenging Harris would be ‘gift from God’ to opponents

California Governor Gavin Newsom told CNN’s Jake Tapper he would not run for president in 2028 if former Vice President Kamala Harris does, in an interview the two recorded while fly fishing on Montana’s Bitterroot River, where Newsom’s in-laws own a ranch.

“I wouldn’t do that to her,” Newsom told CNN anchor Jake Tapper. “I wouldn’t waste everybody’s time.”

Newsom framed a hypothetical challenge to Harris as both a strategic gift to their political opponents and a waste of voters’ time. “I wouldn’t do that to people,” he said, describing the political geometry of two California Democrats competing in the same primary. “The zen diagram on that, it’s pure cross over,” Newsom told Tapper.

Both are California Democrats widely viewed as two of the top establishment frontrunners for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. Newsom, who terms out this year as governor, has built a national profile through sustained public confrontation with President Donald Trump.

Harris has stayed relatively quiet since losing the 2024 presidential race to Trump. She said publicly in July that she had not decided whether to seek the 2028 nomination. That 2024 race was shaped by President Joe Biden’s late exit from the race over concerns about his apparent cognitive decline. Harris became the Democratic nominee and lost to Trump in that election.

Newsom told Tapper he considered entering the 2024 primary but concluded he “wasn’t ready.” He framed his current posture as a question of timing and self-assessment. “You have to meet the moment,” Newsom said. “You have to be honest with yourself. Do you represent the zeitgeist of the moment? Are you wasting everybody’s time?”

Although Newsom told Tapper he would not challenge Harris, he has spent recent months building a national profile. He has adopted a more strident tone on social media, where he routinely takes jabs at Trump. He has cultivated political “influencers” to amplify his messaging. He led a California redistricting ballot initiative that helped lead a national Democratic response to Trump-aligned efforts to gerrymander districts in conservative states to favor Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections.

The CNN interview aired as Newsom enters the final months of his California governorship. His recent moves have pointed toward a national stage. His statement to Tapper ties his own 2028 decision to whether Harris enters the race.