Gavin Newsom’s Political Paradoxes: Erika D. Smith

California Governor Gavin Newsom still won’t say for sure whether he plans to run for president in 2028. Nevertheless, he ended 2025 as a frontrunner — if not the frontrunner — in a nascent-but-crowded field of ambitious Democrats eyeing the White House.

All it took was a willingness to relentlessly troll President Donald Trump and members of his administration in a way that they’ve never been trolled before. But that was, arguably, the easy part.

Now comes the hard part.

Termed out and entering his final full year as governor, Newsom will likely spend much of 2026 trying to define ...