FLORENCE, S.C. (AP) – California Gov. Gavin Newsom is launching a two-day tour of South Carolina on Tuesday, meeting voters across rural areas – and some GOP strongholds – in the early-voting state, the latest signal that the Democrat is eyeing a 2028 run for president.
Gavin Newsom swings through South Carolina, where Democrats will play pivotal 2028 nominating role
FLORENCE, S.C. (AP) – California Gov. Gavin Newsom is launching a two-day tour of South Carolina on Tuesday, meeting voters across rural areas – and some GOP strongholds – in the early-voting state, the latest signal that the Democrat is eyeing a 2028 run for president.
Over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday, Newsom is slated to make a total of eight stops across the state, a trip that state Democratic Party officials have said includes coffee shops, small businesses and churches.
The investment of time in a state pivotal to picking his party’s presidential nominees, and Newsom’s trajectory across some of its reddest areas, suggest that the term-limited governor is angling to shed his San Francisco liberal image, get out ahead of what it sure to be a crowded 2028 field and make inroads with the diverse Democratic electorate whose buy-in has long been seen as critical for their party’s nominee.
Starting in South Carolina’s northeast on Tuesday, Newsom then turns on Wednesday toward the conservative Upstate, among the state’s most GOP-rich areas. He kicks off that day with an event in the small town of Seneca, which four-term GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham calls home. In last year’s general election, President Donald Trump won more than 75% of votes cast in surrounding Oconee County.