Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, who has positioned himself as one of President Trump’s most visible Democratic antagonists, said on Sunday he will consider running for president after the 2026 midterm elections.
Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, has long been considered a potential candidate for 2028 by many political observers. But on “CBS News Sunday Morning,” he addressed the issue more directly when he was asked whether he would give a presidential run serious thought after the midterms.
“Yeah,” he said, adding that saying otherwise, “I’d just be lying, and I can’t do that.” The interview was taped on Thursday in San Jose, according to CBS.
Mr. Newsom is currently serving in his second term as governor, which ends in January 2027, and is not eligible for re-election. He has acted as a foil to Trump administration policies and political maneuvering, pushing back against the presence of federal troops in Los Angeles, leading the effort to redraw the state’s congressional maps to counter similar Republican efforts in Texas and even mocking the president’s social media style.
His remarks on Sunday were not the first indication Mr. Newsom could run in 2028. In July, he met with Democratic voters in South Carolina, a pivotal primary state, which some saw as an early attempt to lay the groundwork for a run.
In the CBS interview, Mr. Newsom said he enjoyed that trip to South Carolina. “I’m in the right business,” he said. “I love people.”
But Mr. Newsom, who was one of President Joseph R. Biden’s strongest allies on the 2024 campaign trail, made it clear that nothing was set in stone.
“I’m looking forward to who presents themselves in 2028 and who meets that moment,” he said. “That’s the question for the American people.”
The Democratic field for the next presidential race is still a long way from taking shape, but ambitious politicians with eyes on 2028 are beginning to make the kinds of trips that feel out, or potentially set up, official announcements.
And at least two other party figures have acknowledged that they could be running in 2028.
Rahm Emanuel, the former Chicago mayor who served as the Biden administration’s ambassador to Japan, is weighing a run.
And former Vice President Kamala Harris suggested in an interview aired on Saturday that she was considering running again after falling short in 2024.
“I am not done,” she told the BBC.
Sonia A. Rao reports on disability issues as a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for early-career journalists.
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