Gavin Newsom won’t consider running for president until 2026? Yeah, right | Opinion
And finally, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s grand reveal. After the 2026 midterm elections have come and gone, Newsom will consider running for president.
“Yeah,” the governor told CBS News over the weekend. “Otherwise, I’d just be lying, and I can’t just do that.”
By my estimation, Newsom basically just did.
Who knows when Newsom truly began seriously thinking about a run for the White House. But that first day certainly won’t come in November 2026.
Newsom has been unusually coy about his own ambitions for higher office, as if it’s not a topic for dining room conversation. “It’s not even on my radar,” he said back in 2022. “Yeah, I mean, I have sub-zero interest,” in a signature quote to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Just who did he think he was fooling?
This is where Newsom and his national arch nemesis, President Donald Trump, have something in common. They’re both masters at manipulating America’s political discourse. Newsom wants to keep the focus now on Trump, not his own campaign message. Trump wants to keep the focus on his own agenda as well, and not sideshows like Jeffrey Epstein or the looming loss of health care support for millions of Americans.
It’s certainly Newsom’s choice to refrain from discussing his candidacy for another 13 months. But that doesn’t mean we’re supposed to pretend he’s not gunning for the White House each and every day.
The governor isn’t being shy about what he considers his signature achievements while leading California. This week on social media, for example, he touted the lower cost of California insulin, the $20-an-hour wages for fast food workers, the $25 hourly pay for health care workers, pre-kindergarten for all state children and free school meals.
A front-runner for a reason
Candidate Newsom deserves his initial front-runner status based on the polling. He has emerged as one of the Democrats’ most forceful voices against a sitting president and agenda that has expanded the executive branch’s power in historic ways. Newsom has eloquently defended California as Trump starves the Golden State of disaster relief while hiring more immigration enforcement. And he has broken through the noise and found ways to reach everyday Americans, whether through social media or podcasts or catchy one-liners that the 24-hour media machine cannot resist.
In speaking with Robert Costa of CBS, Newsom talked about the life of a presidential candidate. “I think the biggest challenge for anyone who runs for any office is people see right through you…” he said. Yes they do.
A grueling scrutiny would await Newsom. Notice how the governor is not touting his achievements on homelessness, affordable housing construction, property insurance, electricity and gasoline, as some examples. He is wise to defer the American inquisition for as long as humanly possible.
There is a part of me that takes Newsom at his word. He’s one of the most ambitious politicians California has ever seen. But he may realize that he is not the one to beat the Republican nominee, whoever that may be.
Can he overcome his California ways?
Despite all his gifts, he remains a privileged white man who has moved to the prissiest California county of them all, Marin. This political pedigree has sub-zero appeal in so many parts of the country. Just wait until the Rust Belt gets those political hit-piece ads with the governor dining maskless with his political buddies during the onset of COVID at Napa’s French Laundry.
Meanwhile, it’s not too soon to judge each and every move that Gavin Newsom makes with the White House in mind. Whether he wants to admit it or not, that’s exactly what he is doing.
This story was originally published October 30, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Gavin Newsom won’t consider running for president until 2026? Yeah, right | Opinion."