Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, who is widely expected to run for president in 2028, said in an interview published on Monday by CNN that he would forego a campaign if former Vice President Kamala Harris decided to run herself.
“I wouldn’t run if she ran,” Mr. Newsom said during an interview recorded during a fly-fishing outing in Montana with Jake Tapper, the CNN anchor, adding: “I wouldn’t waste everyone’s time. Who needs that?”
Mr. Newsom’s statement, volunteered as he and Mr. Tapper cast their lines at a scenic river, seemed to fly in the face of the presidential ambitions the governor has telegraphed since even before Ms. Harris lost the 2024 election.
The surprising pledge, if taken at face value, might appear to constrain Mr. Newsom’s ambitions if Ms. Harris does in fact run again. He would be forced to either keep his word and not pursue an office he has openly coveted, or go back on his word and run against a fellow California Democrat with whom he has a long and complicated relationship.
It is also possible that Mr. Newsom could announce a presidential campaign before Ms. Harris does, which could give him some wiggle room to argue that he had not broken any promises. Mr. Newsom might also believe that Ms. Harris will not run.
A spokesman for Mr. Newsom said he could not immediately offer more clarity on what the governor had meant.
“They’ve been friends long enough that they wouldn’t play cat-and-mouse games on something this important,” said the spokesman, Bob Salladay.
The 2028 presidential primary race is expected to officially start as soon as late this year, after the midterm elections, and potential contenders including Mr. Newsom and Ms. Harris have made moves to maintain their national political profiles.
This year, Mr. Newsom has made two trips to South Carolina, the first state on the Democratic Party’s presidential nominating calendar. Shortly after President Trump took office for a second time, Mr. Newsom started a podcast in which he has interviewed guests from across the political spectrum, including Charlie Kirk before his assassination, Hunter Biden and a series of Democratic governors.
When Mr. Tapper laid out the case for why Ms. Harris, who has also expressed her interest in running for president again, might not be the best option because she has already been nominated and lost, Mr. Newsom agreed.
“That would be the case you’d make, a pretty good one, actually, that’s objectively true,” he said. “But I know what that means. I know her base of supporters, I know her friends.” Referring to the overlap in their circles as “pure crossover,” he added, “I wouldn’t do that.”
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