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

National admin September 14, 2026 0 Comments

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

California Gov. Gavin Newsom told CNN he would not run for the presidency, long considered to be his next political move, if it entails campaigning against fellow California Democrat and former Vice President Kamala Harris, according to an excerpt from an upcoming broadcast for the television network.

Both Newsom and Harris, who lost to President Donald Trump in 2024, have given indications they’re eyeing runs in 2028, and would likely be fierce rivals. The California governor has most recently been campaigning for Democrats in midterm elections in southern states, visiting North and South Carolina and Alabama. But the governor offered his surprising deference to a political rival for an office he’s long been known to have eyes on during an interview conducted by CNN anchor Jake Tapper in a different state — Montana.

The idea that Newsom would bow out to make room for Harris appears to catch Tapper by surprise. “What do you mean?” the television anchor asks, “that doesn’t even make sense to me.”

The two Californians would compete too closely for supporters and donors if both tossed their hats in, Newsom said while the two men stood in the middle of a Montana river and cast fly rods.

“I know her base of supporters. I know her friends, the Venn diagram on that is just pure crossover,” he said.

Harris has indicated she is interested in running again after her failed 2024 campaign, which was conducted on a rushed timeframe after former President Joe Biden dropped out of the race following a disastrous debate performance that exposed his age. She has reportedly made outreach to progressive groups with whom she earned less fervent support during the 2024 campaign.

Politico has also reported Harris recently purchased a more than $8 million beach house in Malibu, which made some observers she is pursuing a quieter life.

A contest between the two of them would clear the field for other candidates. “Electorally, it’s a gift from God for everybody else,” Newsom said. “They can enjoy the hell out of it. Mutually assured destruction. It services no greater good.”

It’s unclear, from the brief clip, what Montana river the two men fished, or if they caught anything. Newsom and Jenifer Seibel were married in 2008 on a ranch owned by her family in Stevensville, Montana, a town near the Bitterroot River and an area dotted with ranches owned by very well-heeled Americans.

The interview was part of a series Tapper is conducting where he interviews politicians in their favorite places, according to CNN.

This story was originally published September 14, 2026 at 6:20 PM with the headline “Newsom says he won’t run for president if Kamala Harris does.”