Gavin Newsom resumes out-of-state roadshow as 2028 White House buzz grows

Gov. Gavin Newsom is once again heading out of state to hit the campaign trail with a planned trip this week to Nevada, extending a whirlwind year of jet-setting that has included overseas trips and a national book tour.

The latest swing, which has led critics to suggest the governor is increasingly focused on a likely 2028 presidential bid rather than California, begins in Las Vegas, where he is expected to campaign for Democratic candidates before embarking on a broader summer push across California and the South to help flip congressional seats and gubernatorial races ahead of the November midterm elections.

California GOP Chairwoman Corrin Rankin slammed Newsom for yet another out-of-state trip, saying the governor is more focused on trying to “save himself” than Democrats. The governor, who’s being investigated by the feds along with his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom, has been laying low wince announcing the probes last month.

“Every mile he puts between himself and California is another attempt to outrun his record, and distract us away from his investigations and the mess Democrats have made from Sacramento to Maine,” Rankin told The Post in a text message.

“Californians know the truth, Newsom’s real campaign is not about the midterms, it is and always has been about Gavin Newsom.”

State Assembly Republicans also panned the governor’s trip in a social media post Wednesday, writing: “If California is the model Gavin Newsom wants to sell the country, why are so many Californians choosing Nevada instead?”

According to Newsom’s political team, the effort is intended to counter President Trump and what they call his push to consolidate power following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision rolling back parts of the Voting Rights Act. 

Newsom is expected to join the Nevada Democratic Party’s canvassing kickoff across the Las Vegas area before raising money for Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat seeking to flip the governor’s office blue. 

California’s governor is also expected to meet with Rep. Steven Horsford and other Democratic leaders in the battleground state. Politico was first to report the governor’s upcoming travel plans.

Later this summer, Newsom plans to campaign across California in competitive House districts reshaped by Proposition 50, the voter-approved redistricting measure Democrats say improved their chances of reclaiming the House majority. He is also expected to travel through the South, though specific states have not yet been announced.

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The governor’s political operation says Newsom has already raised more than $5.2 million for Democratic candidates and causes this election cycle through his national small-dollar fundraising network. 

His team also said a single fundraising email sent days ago generated more than $120,000 for three Democratic House candidates — Richard Pan, Marni von Wilpert and Randy Villegas — whose races became more competitive following last year’s redistricting victory via Proposition 50.

Newsom’s latest jaunt comes after months of travel outside California.

Earlier this year, Newsom embarked on a nationwide tour promoting his memoir, Young Man in a Hurry, making appearances in New York, Boston, Nashville, Atlanta, South Carolina, Austin and Las Vegas. His federal political committees spent more than $1.5 million purchasing copies of the book and tens of thousands of dollars renting venues for campaign-style events.

Newsom’s book tour was paid for by Campaign for Democracy, a political action committee that combined with two other entities has given Newsom a political war chest to burnish his national image ahead of his expected presidential run. Altogether, the two PACs and a Super PAC had $14.5 million as of this spring.

The governor blasted out a request for donations to one of the PACs within hours of calling the FBI probes a political attack in a pre-recorded video message.

Newsom’s travels have taken him overseas multiple times this year, including to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Munich Security Conference in Germany and a stop-off in London, where he signed a clean-energy partnership with the United Kingdom.

An analysis by the Press Democrat earlier this spring found that Newsom had taken 45 out-of-state trips since the start of 2023 through March of this year, totaling roughly 229 travel days — the equivalent of about two months each year away from California. 

Newsom’s office has said those trips included official state business, political activities and personal travel conducted in his private capacity.

Nevada has become a regular stop for politicians with presidential ambitions because of its early role in the Democratic presidential nominating process. This week’s trip will mark Newsom’s third visit since March 2025.

Newsom has shied away from confirming he will run for president, but his increasingly national and global schedule continues to fuel speculation that it’s a matter of when, not if.

The latest polling by the New York Times found that Newsom is badly trailing his friend turned bitter rival Kamala Harris.