Gavin Newsom Reveals Dem He Wouldn't Run Against in 2028

Kelley L Cox / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect Gavin Newsom is perhaps the most unapologetic contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.

That said, even he has his dealbreakers.

The California governor revealed in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper that there’s one candidate who would definitely tank his prospects for the White House: Kamala Harris.

“I don’t know if she runs, but we’ll see,” Newsom, 58, told Tapper, while holding a fishing pole and standing knee-deep in water.

When Tapper noted that Harris, a fellow California politician, had been “calling around,” Newsom conceded: “I wouldn’t run if she ran.” He added: “I wouldn’t do that to her; I wouldn’t do that to you.

I wouldn’t waste everyone’s time.

Who needs that?” “What do you mean?,” a seemingly bewildered Tapper replied.

“That doesn’t even make sense to me.” Newsom went on to call it “mutually assured destruction.” The two California Democrats—sworn in on the same day two decades ago—have had a rocky relationship, despite showing a united front in their early days in San Francisco politics under the same mentor, Golden State superstar Willie Brown.

In July, a former staffer who had an affair with Newsom when he was the mayor of San Francisco said that the “best advice” she received at the time was from Harris.

“I tell her people are urging me to speak publicly,” Ruby Rippey, 54, wrote for Vanity Fair .

“She listens, then says simply: ‘I wouldn’t say anything right now, Ruby.

Just pause.

More time will give you better perspective,’” she went on, calling it “the best advice” she received.

In December, The New York Times reported that the 2024 presidential candidate clammed up when asked whether she signed off on a “President Newsom.” “He has to make that decision if he wants to [run] first,” Harris, 61, said.