Newsom says he won’t run for president in 2028 if Harris does

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said in an interview on Monday that he wouldn’t run for president in 2028 if former Vice President Kamala Harris ran for a third bid, pointing out that they’d both be fighting over similar bases of supporters.

“First of all, electorally, it’s a gift from God for everybody else. They’d enjoy the hell out of it,” Newsom told CNN’s Jake Tapper while fly fishing in Montana. “Mutual assured destruction. It services no greater good.”

When Tapper offered the counter argument that Harris had won twice and lost while Newsom had never ran before, the California governor argued that they’d split their share of primary voters if the two ran against each other.

“I know her base of supporters. I know her friends,” Newsom said. “The [Venn] diagram on that is just pure crossover.”

“I wouldn’t do that to people,” he added.

Newsom is widely floated as a potential 2028 White House candidate and is mulling a possible run. Harris, who also hails from California and shares a similar political orbit with Newsom, is as well.

The California governor’s interview marks the first time that he’s addressed forgoing a White House bid if his Golden State counterpart were to join the 2028 primary mix.

Many potential hopefuls on either side are expected to start announcing decisions after the November midterms.

Newsom has been traveling to states like South Carolina and Michigan, while Harris has traveled across the country as a part of her book tour while weighing in on the midterm races.

Having two Californians — potentially three, with Rep. Ro Khanna — could be a risky bet for Democrats not only because they would share the same political home, but hailing from the reliably blue state could make it harder to bring in independents or disaffected Republicans.