'Mutual assured destruction': Newsom highlights Democratic division heading into 2028, says he won't run for president if Kamala Harris is a candidate.

California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, stated on Monday that he would step aside from the 2028 presidential race if former Vice President Kamala Harris decided to launch another campaign for the White House, arguing that the two Democrats would largely be competing for the same group of voters in the primaries, though some view this as an indirect attack on the former 2024 presidential candidate, who was defeated by current President Donald Trump.

During an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, Newsom described a potential showdown between the two California politicians as a scenario that would benefit the other Democratic candidates. "First of all, electorally, it’s a gift from God for everybody else. They’d enjoy the hell out of it. Mutual assured destruction. It services no greater good," Newsom said.

Both Newsom and Harris are among the potential Democratic contenders for the 2028 presidential nomination. Newsom has not ruled out running, while Harris has also been considering another bid following her previous presidential campaigns, a move that has drawn criticism from some Democratic figures who believe such an action could harm the party and benefit the candidate the Republican Party eventually chooses.

Elsewhere in the interview, Tapper noted that Joe Biden's former vice president has already run for president twice, while Newsom has never sought the nomination. Newsom responded that their political networks and supporter bases overlap considerably, so a direct contest between the two could end up hurting their respective campaigns in particular. "I know her base of supporters. I know her friends. The [Venn] diagram on that is just pure crossover. I wouldn’t do that to people," he said.

Newsom's remarks mark the first time he has publicly addressed whether Harris' potential entry into the race would affect his own decision to run for the White House. His comments come as Democrats begin to look toward the next presidential cycle, with many potential candidates waiting to clarify their intentions until after the midterm elections, which could represent a turning point for the country's immediate political future, should the Democrats manage to win control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.