Will Democrats bet on California?

As Harris, Newsom step up, age-old perils and promises of the state are at forefront.

- SEEMA MEHTA AND DAKOTA SMITH

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM with First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom at party headquarters on election night.

California's potential to lead a national Democratic comeback was on full display as party leaders from across the country recently gathered in downtown Los Angeles.

But is the party ready to bet on the Golden State? Appearances at the Democratic National Committee meeting by the state's most prominent Democrats, former Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov.

Gavin Newsom, crystallized the peril and promise of California's appeal. Harris failed to beat a politically wounded Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race and Newsom, now among President Trump's most celebrated critics, is considered a top Democratic contender to replace the Republican president in the White House in 2028.

California policies on divisive issues such as providing expanded access to government-sponsored healthcare, aiding undocumented immigrants and supporting LGBTQ+ rights continually serve as a Rorschach test for the nation's polarized electorate, providing comfort to progressives and ammunition for Republican attack ads.

"California is like your cool cousin that comes for the holidays who is intriguing and glamorous, but who might not fit in with the family year-round," said Elizabeth Ashford, a veteran Democratic strategist who worked for former Govs.

Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Harris when she was the state's attorney general.

Newsom, in particular, is quick to boast about California being home to the world's fourth-largest economy, a billion-dollar agricultural industry and economic and cultural powerhouses in Hollywood and the Silicon Valley. Critics, Trump chief among them, paint the state as a dystopian hellhole-littered with homeless encampments and lawlessness, and plagued by high taxes and an even higher cost of living.