Newsom runs alone, for now. Is he vulnerable from the left?

One year from the unofficial launch of the 2028 campaign, the governor is out front with momentum

- BY MICHAEL WILNER

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM touts his Proposition 50 victory recently in Texas.

(BRANDON BELL Getty Images)

WASHINGTON Before flying to Brazil last week, showing up for the United States at an inter national summit skipped by the Trump administration, Gavin Newsom made a stop in Texas.

The redistricting fight that started there had just taken a powerful counterpunch thanks to the governor's action in California. "Don't poke the bear," Newsom told an elated crowd of Democrats.

In Washington, a handful of Senate Democrats had just voted with Republicans to reopen the government, relenting on a fight for an extension of healthcare tax credits. Newsom lashed out harshly against his party colleagues. "Pathetic," he wrote online, later telling The Times, "you don't start something unless you're going to finish."

They were just Newsom's latest moves in an aggressive strategy to shore up early support for an expected run for president starting next year, after the 2026 midterm elections, when both parties will face competitive primaries without an incumbent seeking reelection for the first time since 2016.

The opportunity to redefine a party in transition and win its presidential nomination has, in recent cycles, led to historically large primary fields for both Democrats and Republicans, often featuring more than 20 candidates at the start of a modern race.

And yet, one year out, Newsom appears to be running alone and out front in an open field, with expected taking competitors few steps to blunt his momentum, ceding ground in public media and with private donors to the emerging front-runner.