Newsom joins Harris in eyeing presidential bid

Both Democrats voice early 2028 hopes, signaling California's clout

- JENNY JARVIE

FORMER Vice President Kamala Harris said she's expecting a female president.

In a sign of California's rising status as a major hub of Democratic politics, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Sunday he's considering a run for president in 2028 just a day after the news that former Vice President Kamala Harris had made the same pronouncement.

Newsom, a Democrat who has become a nationally renowned figure this year pitching himself as a leader of the resistance to President Trump, acknowledged for the first time publicly that he is carefully weighing a 2028 presidential run.

In an interview with "CBS News Sunday Morning," Newsom was asked whether he would give "serious thought" after the 2026 midterms to a White House bid.

"Yeah, I'd be lying otherwise," Newsom replied. "I'd just be lying. And I'm not - I can't do that."

Harris said in an interview with the BBC posted this weekend that she expects a woman will be president in the coming years. "Possibly," she said, it could be her.

"I am not done," she said. "I have lived my entire career as a life of service, and it's in my bones."

With more than three years until the November 2028 election, it is entirely possible that only one or neither of the two California politicians could ultimately throw their hat in the race.

But the early willingness of Newsom and Harris to publicly consider a White House bid shows that the Golden State remains a central power base in Democratic politics. It also sets up a potential 2028 political showdown between two of California's most prominent and nationally polarizing political figures.

For years, Newsom has denied presidential ambitions, even as pundits have considered him a potential candidate. But since Trump defeated Harris in the November 2024 election, the California governor has emerged as a more vocal, combative critic of the Trump agenda.