Gov. Gavin Newsom reveals when he'll start thinking about a potential 2028 run

"Is it fair to say, after the 2026 midterms, you're going to give it serious thought?" CBS correspondent Robert Costa asked Newsom. 

The California governor responded, "Yeah, I'd be lying otherwise." 

"I'd just be lying. And I can't do that," he added. 

Costa followed up and noted the governor has always said he would need a compelling reason to run for president.

"Are you moving closer to figuring out your own why and your own decision?" Costa asked.

Newsom responded by quoting Friedrich Nietzsche, "If you have a compelling why, you can endure any how."

"I think the biggest challenge for anyone who runs for any office is people see right through you if you don't have that why. You're doing it for the wrong reasons. And so, look, faith will determine that," Newsom added.

"We also have a crisis with masculinity and men. Men are struggling. And multi-ethic, I mean, suicide rates are off the chart, dropout rates, suspension rates, loneliness, despair, deaths of despair. It's a serious crisis what's going on in this country. Democrats haven't focused on that issue. And I'm very proud of the work, substantive work we're doing in this, but I've also been using the podcast to highlight that," he said. 

"I fear that we will not have an election in 2028," he told late-night host Stephen Colbert. "I really mean that in the core of my soul. Unless we wake up to the code red, what's happening in this country - we wake up soberly to how serious this moment is."