Newsom reveals when he’ll decide on 2028 run
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he plans to decide by early January whether to launch a 2028 presidential campaign, after previously pledging not to run if Kamala Harris enters the race.
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Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that he will decide within the next two months whether to seek the presidency, revealing that he plans to make up his mind by early January about a potential 2028 bid.
Newsom, who will leave office in January, was asked about his presidential aspirations while attending the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference in Antalya, Turkey.
“As it relates to 2028, we’ll make that decision in the next few months,” Newsom told Turkey’s Anadolu news agency.
“I’ll make the determination at the beginning of the year,” he continued. “So we’ll spend the next few weeks with the family and make a decision early January.”
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that he would make a decision on a 2028 White House bid in the “next few months.” (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Newsom has long been discussed as a potential 2028 contender, frequently mentioned among possible Democratic candidates, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga.
However, fellow Californian and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris could complicate Newsom’s plans if she decides to launch another White House bid.
Newsom previously said he would not run for president if Harris entered the race.
“I don’t know if she runs, but we’ll see,” Newsom told CNN’s Jake Tapper in a September interview. “But I wouldn’t run if she ran.”
“If she runs, you will not,” Tapper responded.
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Former Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a Women for Crowley campaign event hosted by Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Crowley at the Pfister Hotel on Oct. 26, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
“Of course not. Why would I?” Newsom said. “I wouldn’t do that to her … I wouldn’t do that to you. I wouldn’t waste everyone’s time. Who needs that?”
Newsom also suggested during the interview that spectators would feast on the “mutual-assured destruction” among Democrats competing for the nomination.
“I mean, you do whatever you want. I don’t care,” Tapper told Newsom. “But [the] counterargument would be, like, you know, she had her shot. And you’ve never run, and she’s run twice.”
“Yeah,” Newsom responded. “I mean, that’d be the approach to the campaign, certainly. That’d be the case you’d make. Pretty good one, actually. That’s objectively true.”
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has been mentioned among potential Democratic presidential contenders in 2028. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Newsom, who is term-limited after 2026, outlined his political timeline just over a week after Republicans suffered sweeping defeats in the midterm elections, losing control of both chambers of Congress and several traditionally Republican strongholds.
Newsom said he was “particularly pleased with the outcome of the election.”
“Donald Trump’s presidency, as we know it, ended last week in the U.S.,” he said. “It was an historic rebuke of his tenure and now it’s incumbent upon those that were successful to govern and to lead my party. The Democratic Party now has to set forth a positive alternative agenda to Donald Trump.”
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Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
