According to Race To The White House, an aggregate polling tracker, Newsom currently leads the polls for the 2028 Democratic primary race in two states—his home state of California (23.2 percent) and Ohio (20 percent). He is leading upward of 5 percent ahead of former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in both.

Gavin Newsom is most likely to be the 2028 Democratic nominee for president. Republicans should prepare for that possibility.

This will be an intense campaign with both sides spending tens of millions to try to move those undecided voters.”

Gavin Newsom is having a moment. In the national struggle over U.S. House control, perhaps no politician has more at stake than the California governor, who has emerged as the leading Democratic adversary to President Donald Trump in what many see as a lightly masked trial run for his own future White House bid.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic state lawmakers moved quickly to create new districts that could help their party flip five congressional seats. Their plan still requires voter approval.