Newsom Admits the Obvious; He's Running

California Governor Gavin Newsom finally dropped major hints that he aspires to the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. For months—but without fooling anyone—Newsom concealed his White House yearnings.

After defeating a recall attempt, Newsom told NBC's Chuck Todd in an interview that he had "never" considered running for president and had "no, no, no, no, no" interest in ever doing so because "who needs the damn stress?"

During an endorsement interview with the San Francisco Chronicle during his re-election campaign for California governor the following year, Newsom said he had "sub-zero interest" in being commander-in-chief and that "it's not even on my radar." He reiterated to CBS that "it's not my ambition" and "I have no interest" in ever running.

Newsom's presidential cravings surfaced repeatedly last summer as desperate Democrats mulled whether to replace President Joe Biden on the ticket, and Newsom faithfully rejected the suggestion, emerging as Biden's most ardent supporter until Vice-President Kamala Harris became the nominee. The California governor could barely hide his displeasure at being summarily passed over. But in a June, 2025 Wall Street Journal profile, Newsom changed his tune. "I'm not thinking about running, but it's a path that I could see unfold," he said.

Newsom has at best, a mixed gubernatorial record—residents have fled California during his term, homelessness is rampant, and the state is plagued by deep budget deficits created in part by his ill-advised decision to give Medi-Cal to all adult illegal aliens. With 15 months left in his term, Newsom must consider how national voters will perceive him. His primary challengers will tie him to his French Laundry COVID fiasco, his tepid response to the Palisades area wildfires, his slow reaction to the Los Angeles riots, and his subsequent challenge to President Trump's summoning the National Guard to quell the uprising.

Newsom, podcaster, ranking elitist, and aspiring Democratic presidential nominee, is now tackling the seemingly insoluble Golden State conundrum—the scarcity of affordable housing. Always identified in terms of a crisis, the lack of affordable housing has been a key talking point among California's political class for so long that voters have stopped giving credence to lofty but empty promises to reverse the years-long headache.

During the current budget negotiations, Newsom took his latest stab at remedying the age-old housing affordability problem. California historians note that in 2002, former Governor Gray Davis campaigned on creating affordable housing through a $2.1 billion bond. Not only did Davis fail on building affordable housing, but he also came up short on his $5.3 billion Traffic Relief Program and his High-Speed Rail Bond Act.

Before he signed California's 2025-2026 budget that will, in Newsom's words, "deliver the most consequential housing and infrastructure reform in recent state history," Newsom demanded that the legislature pass Assembly Bill 130 and SB 131, which will advance "faster, more affordable housing and infrastructure as part of California's Abundance Agenda," the latest rallying cry for the state's progressives. Newsom's problem is that the two bills trample what has been a cornerstone for California's conservationists since 1970, when then-Governor Ronald Reagan signed the California Environmental Quality Act. The act requires state and local agencies to review the environmental impact of projects, including public infrastructure, housing developments, and commercial construction, a nearly insurmountable blockage to more building. Some environmentalists and other defenders of the longstanding law were furious and warned that developers will now go unchecked. “Who needs Trump when we have a wolf in sheep’s clothing negotiating back room deals while he and his oligarch donors score big,” one Newsom critic wrote on X. California's budget deficits could be a game changer for on-the-fence Newsom voters.

The Legislative Analyst's Office predicts that the state may face double-digit operating deficits in the coming years if spending growth continues to outpace revenue increases. In 2023-2024, California was $47 billion in the red, and in 2024-2025, minus $38 billion. If Newsom is serious about a White House bid, he needs to start today on his platform. Being the leader of the never-Trump resistance won't amount to anything in 2028. The GOP nominee will likely be Vice President J.D. Vance or Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, each with more persuasive credentials than Newsom. Neither Vance nor DeSantis will be burdened with explaining why people have abandoned his state in droves, why he's incapable of cutting multi-billion-dollar deficits, and why he made the fiscally unsound decision to grant costly Medi-Cal benefits to illegal aliens.

The biggest advantage Newsom has is the weak Democratic bench that may allow him to rise to the top. But being nominated is just the first step on the road to the Oval Office. Just ask Kamala Harris.

Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org