Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2028? Maybe, with some breaks...

He's by far the best communicator in the Democratic Party.

Here’s why you can’t count Newsom out of the 2028 Democratic sweepstakes

By Jack Ohman

Jan 11, 2025

Assuming we have a 2028 presidential election, and I have my doubts, polls are showing Vice President Kamala Harris as a substantial front-runner.

Now, anyway.

Who’s a growth stock if Harris decides not to run or, alternatively, she runs for governor of California in 2026?

Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Oh, sure, some of the smart money Democrats (tell me who they are again, that canny legion of Ds who were right about 2024?) will tell you all about Newsom’s various liabilities as a general election candidate:

He’s from California. He’s too slick. He’s too Hollywood. He had that affair with his aide’s wife. What does he know about agriculture?

Oh. Let me help you with some of this.

Ag? California is America’s largest ag state. Iowa is a county compared to California. Newsom is good at nothing if not yacking about microscopic line-item minutiae about ag policy.

No one cared whether or not Harris was from California, and that had nothing to do with her defeat. She lost as part of a larger global anti-incumbency political trend. Hey, give Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a call and ask him what's up these days. Or German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz. The list goes on and on.

Heads up: None of those global incumbents are from California.

The late Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan were Californians, for starters. They both carried 49 states. Not bad for some Golden State beach bums.

Reagan was more typically a Cali Guy: Hollywood, the cowboy thing, the brown plaid suits in a sea of D.C. blue gabardine, the ex-actress astrology buff wife.

Newsom: He’s California, all right. But he can do a workaround because he’s been doing that for his entire career.

Newsom was once married to the next ambassador to Greece and the ex-GF of Donald J. Trump Jr., Kimberley Guilfoyle (oy!). Now, the governor is the boring father of four, married to a wife whose family mostly isn’t down with her husband.

But is Newsom really that liberal?

Hmm. Ask some of the more progressive members of the California Legislature how liberal he is. He’s sided with Big Ag more than they like, he’s kinda pro-business, he used to sashay around with Elon Musk, and he routinely vetoes more outlandish liberal initiatives, as former Gov. Jerry Brown did with more obvious relish than Newsom.

A key question is the notion of Newsom’s Slick Guy reputation.

The thing is, Newsom isn’t all that defined nationally yet. Sure, some fraction of national voters have a clear picture of his persona, but my guess is that his “slickness,” if you will, can be retooled pretty nicely with the right strategy. To wit: He’s the son of a single mom who raised him after his father left the family, he’s overcome dyslexia and he didn’t exactly just walk into office.

He actually didn’t come from money, popular mythology notwithstanding, and he started off on some lowly San Francisco commission before getting himself appointed then elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, then mayor, then the mind-numbing tedium of California lieutenant governor.

Newsom’s trouble is that he looks like the caricature he isn’t. The Newsom rebrand would be pretty simple, really, if he stays on message.

Hollywood helps, not hurts Newsom. People like celebrity candidates — witness the felon reality show star inflicted upon us by NBC. In his youth, Reagan was a Warner Bros. B-flick lot rat. We’ve had a Hollywood song-and-dance man, George Murphy, as a U.S. senator in the 1960s. Having a Hollywood brand isn’t exactly fatal.

What type of candidate do the Democrats need in 2028?

Someone who is good on television.

Hi, meet Gavin Newsom, who looks like a cross between a CBS News anchor and a guy who plays politicians in disaster movies.

Did you check out the way Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ head rolled across the floor when Newsom debated him last year? Here’s your backside I just handed you. What’s your hurry?

Oh, and you may have heard that podcasts are now a thing. Newsom has one of those, too, and he’s very, very good on it.

One thing Newsom excels at is, quite simply put, talking smack and baiting his opponents. It’s an art, and he’s Rembrandt on the pods, baby.

The City Hall romance?

Um, the incoming 47th president and wannabe Greenland/Canada/Panama czar might have indulged in that sort of tawdriness himself. Plus, Newsom is clearly devoted to his family and is 25 years older now. These days, he’s probably more interested in hitting the hay at 10 p.m. than having a roll in it.

Newsom is also the name brand in the very ungelled 2028 field. None of them can match him for star power, with the exception of Secretary Pete Buttigieg, but even Sec. Pete looks like a dude who works for your local savings and loan compared to Newsom.

Newsom hasn’t said what he would do if Harris ran in 2028. He’d probably have a lot of financial airhoses stepped on. If she doesn’t, and he runs, how does Newsom/AOC sound?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would be ready by then, and you may have heard she has a youthful star power all her own. Plus, the kids now refer to our governor as “Daddy Newsom.”

At 60 in 2028, he’d be solidly into Daddy territory then.

Those who dismiss Newsom as Too This or Too That may want to rethink before Gavin asks everyone who their daddy is.

Jack Ohman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist who also writes at https://substack.com/@jackohman

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Hey, folks: Busy travel day. More later. Have a great afternoon! —J.