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

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is seen as a potential frontrunner if he enters the race.Sean Rayford / Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleBy Raquel Coronell UribeCalifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom made a surprise announcement by saying he won’t launch a 2028 White House bid if former Vice President Kamala Harris decides to run again.

“I wouldn’t run if she ran,” Newsom told CNN in an interview that aired Monday evening.

Newsom said that running against Harris, a fellow California Democrat who served as the state’s attorney general before becoming a senator, would be an electoral “gift” for everybody else.

“They’d enjoy the hell out of it. Mutual assured destruction. It services no greater good. Why would I do this if I wasn’t trying to serve some greater good? There would be no upside whatsoever,” said Newsom, who has been considering a White House run.

Newsom, who has not run for president before, acknowledged that an “approach to the campaign” would be to say Harris, who ran in 2020 and 2024, had had a shot and has previously run for president.

Kamala Harris, former Vice President and 2024 Presidential candidate, in New York on April 10.Angelina Katsanis / AP file“That would be the case you’d make. Pretty good one actually. You know that’s objectively true,” Newsom said, while adding that the Venn diagram between them had too much crossover.

“I know her base of supporters, I know her friends,” Newsom said. “I wouldn’t do that to people.”

Harris’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Newsom’s remarks.

Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment on his CNN remarks.

Raquel Coronell UribeRaquel Coronell Uribe is a politics reporter for NBC News.