California Governor Gavin Newsom has officially cracked open the door to a 2028 White House bid, telling CBS News Sunday Morning that he’ll make a decision after the 2026 midterm elections.
“Yeah, I’d be lying otherwise,” Newsom said when asked if he was seriously considering a run. “I’d just be lying. And I’m not – I can’t do that.”
Newsom’s second and final term as governor ends in January 2027, leaving him politically unanchored — and, increasingly, in the national spotlight. But he was quick to add that nothing is set in stone.
“Fate will determine that,” he said.
The California governor has long been a high-profile Democrat, building a reputation as a sharp-tongued critic of Donald Trump and his allies. His social media posts regularly go viral, and his recent push for a ballot measure to counter Republican redistricting efforts has only fueled speculation about his future ambitions — and made him a target for conservatives.
Over the weekend, that tension was on full display. Trump’s Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, took a direct swing at Newsom during an interview with Fox News, accusing him of neglecting Californians and threatening to strip the state of key federal funding.
“I’m about to pull $160m from California,” Duffy said, citing a recent crash involving an undocumented semi-truck driver that killed three people and injured four.
Newsom’s office fired back, noting that the federal government had repeatedly reauthorized the driver’s employment, which allowed him to obtain a commercial driver’s license under federal law.
Duffy, who already withheld $40 million over alleged failures to enforce English language requirements for truck drivers, found himself once again on the receiving end of the governor’s trademark punch.
“Former D-list reality star, now Secretary of Transportation, still doesn’t understand federal law,” Newsom’s office said last month after Duffy’s earlier threat. “In the meantime, unlike this clown, we’ll stick to the facts: California commercial driver’s license holders had a fatal crash rate nearly 40% LOWER than the national average. Texas – the only state with more commercial holders – has a rate almost 50% higher than California. Facts don’t lie. The Trump administration does.”
Despite the political noise, Newsom’s numbers have quietly ticked upward. A recent CBS poll found that 72% of Democrats and 48% of all registered voters think he should run for president in 2028. Decision Desk HQ data shows his favorability has climbed to an average of 33.5%, while his unfavorability has dipped to 38.4%.
Just earlier this year, though, Newsom sounded far less certain about his political future. During a trip through several battleground states, he told CBS, “I have no idea,” when asked about 2028.
The governor, who has often spoken about his struggles with dyslexia and his underdog beginnings, reflected on how far he’s come — and how unpredictable politics can be.
“The idea that a guy who got 960 on his SAT, that still struggles to read scripts, that was always in the back of the classroom, the idea that you would even throw that out is, in and of itself, extraordinary,” he said. “Who the hell knows? I’m looking forward to who presents themselves in 2028 and who meets that moment. And that’s the question for the American people.”
For now, Newsom says he’s focused on finishing his term — but he’s no denying the presidency isn’t on his radar.
