Newsom admitted he “would be lying” if he wasn’t thinking “seriously” to be a candidate in the next presidential elections. “I would be lying. And I’m not, I can’t do that”, he reiterated. The governor, who cannot re-apply for his current position and whose term ends in January 2027pointed his decision to after the 2026 midterm elections, which he will see as a referendum on the political situation in the country. “Fate will determine that,” he said.
Despite the inconclusive response, Gavin Newsom has done everything that is customary for a politician who shows a desire to run for the White House, including making several visits to crucial states for the elections, including a visit in July to South Carolina, a state that is expected to host the 2028 Democratic Convention where the Democratic Party candidate for the highest office in the country will be announced.
Gavin Newsom
Andrew Harnik
In the interview with CBS News, the governor of California referred to his personal difficulties with dyslexia as a way of saying that life is unpredictable and that, by 2028, a lot can happen, including supporting another candidacy. “I’m looking forward to seeing who shows up in 2028 and who lives up to the expectations of the moment. That will be a question for the American people,” he responded.
In 2024, Gavin Newsom had already been mentioned as a possible candidate, but Joe Biden’s withdrawal in favor of his vice president, Kamala Harris, ended up removing the governor from the conversation. However, Newsom has shown a different strategy than the rest of Democrats to combat Donald Trump’s rhetoric, using the same weapons as Republicans to ridicule or counter-argue political opponents.
This strategy has been copy Trump’s style on his social media, including the loud and hyperbolic way the President writesto throw barbs at the country’s leader, going on podcasts listened to by many men more inclined to vote for Trump, and using the English expression of “fighting fire with fire”. More recently, after Republicans redrawn electoral maps in Texas to benefit them in the upcoming elections, in many cases ignoring population censuses and harming cities with a majority Democratic population, Newsom did the same and advanced legislation in California that makes districts in the state more favorable to Democrats.
Gavin Newsom’s growth did not go unnoticed by Donald Trump, who harshly criticized the California governor and made Newsom one of his favorite targets, especially after protests against the White House’s immigration policy and the consequent aggressive and military response by the armed forces in the state.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department said it would send inspectors to monitor California’s special election to decide redistricting in the state, a move Newsom called an attack on the region’s democratic independence.