This piece is posted in middle November 2025…..
Newsom, the California Democratic Govrenor still has LONG way to go…..
He’s term limited so he’s out of office a year from now…..
And that will play to his advange also….
There ARE at least a half dozen others warming up in the bullpen….
But right now?
The 2028 Sweepstakes belongs to Newsom, who HAS BEEN Trump and JD Vance’s case already….
No Democrat has had a better two years than Gavin Newsom and because of it, the California governor — a national figure since he was a 36-year-old boy mayor — has claimed a new title: front-runner.
It’s easy to find Newsom naysayers. In fact, there may not be a modern political figure who was simultaneously so well-positioned to be his party’s nominee and so doubted by the smart set since, well, Joe Biden in 2020.
So let’s not make the mistake of ignoring what’s in plain view and give the governor his due.
By the old rules of Democratic nominations, Newsom fits neatly in the tradition of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama: younger, outsider candidates who could credibly run fresh campaigns against the Washington status quo of both parties while claiming enough insider credentials to reassure party mandarins who care about such things.
The San Franciscan has never lived a day outside of California, presents younger than 58 because of his hair and genes and has endeared himself to his party rank-and-file by criticizing Democratic leaders for not fighting harder before leading by example to confront Donald Trump. Newsom also attended and scribbled notes at the first Clinton Global Initiative meeting in 2005 and has to be the only first-term lieutenant governor to have Bill Clinton, Michael Bloomberg and Arianna Huffington blurb his book (a tome we shall come back to).
Newsom is also the best-positioned Democrat according to the new rules of politics — namely, whether you are or can become famous by breaking through on social media. Ask yourself: How many other potential candidates are plausible celebrities who can transcend the political-pop culture divide a la Obama and Trump? If you believe the phone in your hand will, more than any factor, determine the next Democratic nominee, it’s hard not to grasp Newsom’s strength. As the kids say, he gives main character energy.
There’s also the fact that his looks can be deceiving. To overcome his dyslexia, Newsom has committed an enormous amount to memory and should be able to acquit himself as well as any of the party hopefuls on the debate stage.
And on which side of the party’s liberal-versus-moderate divide will Newsom position himself?
Neither….
…
Are you a progressive?
“I’m a hard-headed pragmatist,” he said.
Are you a progressive, I tried again.
“Once a mayor, always a mayor — get things done,” Newsom came back.
He then said flatly: “I don’t want to be labeled,” explaining that he finds it “reductive.”
…
But what sort of president of the United States of America would Newsom be?
For now, Newsom is more comfortable punching back at Trump.
The president may not be on the ballot, Newsom told me, but Trump will ensure 2028 is about him.
Therefore, “the way back for the Democratic Party is about how we work around what appears for some to be this immovable object, Trump and Trumpism,” he said.
Yet, Newsom being Newsom, he hastened to add that any Democratic candidate would also have to present their vision for the future…..
image…NBC News
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