Gavin Newsom’s vow not to run against Kamala Harris branded ‘impossible to believe’

Gov. Gavin Newsom says he’ll shelve his White House dreams if Kamala Harris wants another crack at the presidency — but not everyone is buying it.

The governor said during a CNN interview that their overlapping friends and donors would end in “mutually assured destruction.” But political experts and insiders told The Post they have serious doubts about whether Harris would even mount a third campaign for president.

“It’s impossible to believe Gavin Newsom will skip this presidential campaign for any reason,” Dan Schnur, a professor of political communications at USC and UC Berkeley, told The Post.

Schnur said Newsom’s magnanimous pledge is likely rooted in a calculation that Harris, who briefly ran in 2019 and then lost the 2024 election to President Trump, will ultimately sit out the race.

“We should assume that Newsom and his team are assuming she won’t run,” Schnur said.

“This allows them to look generous and selfless without having to really do anything and put a campaign on hold.”

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

Newsom has not formally declared his candidacy, but the termed-out governor has done little to disguise his national ambitions. 

The governor has crisscrossed the country to hawk his memoir, “A Young Man in a Hurry,” while also making stops in swing states and the South to raise money for Democratic candidates — as well as his own profile. 

Newsom also has become the most outspoken Democratic voice in sparring with Trump while building a combative social media operation that mimics and trolls the president.

Harris, meanwhile, launched her own book tour for the presidential campaign tell-all “107 Days,” and she has not publicly decided whether she’ll make another run for the White House. 

A leader of a Democratic super PAC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, called Newsom’s CNN remarks “surprising” and scoffed at the idea of another Harris presidential campaign.

“For somebody who has shown to be really skilled at telegraphing where they want to go, it’s kind of silly to me,” the source said of Newsom’s comments.

“She’s not going to be formidable, and I think he made a mistake here. … I could count on one hand the number of people who have said they want to go down that road again [with Harris],” the source said.

Harris notably didn’t even make it to the first primary election in 2020, dropping out months earlier as she failed to gain traction with Iowa voters. Then in 2024, Harris took over the ticket from former President Joe Biden and proceeded to lose all seven swing states.

“A two-time loser is not aspirational in what will likely be a 20-person Democratic primary field,” the Super PAC leader said.

The former vice president recently insisted her immediate focus is helping Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections, arguing that the 2028 contest “doesn’t matter” unless the party first wins back power in Congress.

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who gave both Newsom and Harris crucial early boosts in San Francisco politics, said he would have warned the governor against making such a sweeping promise to CNN.

“I don’t think that is a good thing to say,” Brown told The Post. “I think you need to wait to see if someone actually runs.”

Brown compared Newsom’s declaration with similar promises made by several Democratic candidates for California governor when Harris was weighing whether to enter the race to succeed Newsom. Harris ultimately stayed out of the race.

“I suspect some of the people who said they wouldn’t run for governor if Kamala wanted to run, some of them wish they’d never said that,” Brown said.

Still, the former mayor said Newsom would be making a mistake by surrendering his shot at the White House, calling him the “strongest” potential Democratic contender.

“He’s a quality communicator, he’s handsome, movie-star type guy, and he literally knows how to entertain voters — those are all factors that you treasure in a candidate,” Brown said.

Schnur said he suspects Newsom believes Harris will not run again, which is why he made the comments. But there will be plenty of time for Newsom to wriggle out of old promises.

“If she does run,” Schnur said, “he’ll find a way to rethink this.”