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.

Treading in that territory fits with the image that Newsom has been cultivating for himself ahead of a possible 2028 White House bid.

Increasingly willing to break from some of the policies that have defined his brand and his deeply Democratic state, Newsom has hosted Trump’s allies on his podcast, even stunning some members of his own party by agreeing with podcast guests on issues such as restricting transgender women and girls in sports. Saying dismantling police departments was “lunacy,” Newsom also kept silent when longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon falsely said Trump won the 2020 presidential election against Democrat Joe Biden.

Although the 2028 Democratic primary calendar won’t be set for many months, potential candidates for the party’s upcoming presidential slate have already started visiting South Carolina, with the expectation that the state will continue to play a pivotal role.

At the urging of Biden – whose 2020 candidacy was saved by his resounding South Carolina primary win – the state led off Democrats’ 2024 calendar, and party chair Christale Spain has said that she will renew the argument to keep the state’s No. 1 position in the next cycle. South Carolina has long been the first southern state to hold a primary, giving it a unique role in the Democratic nomination process due to its diverse electorate, particularly the significant influence of Black voters.

In May, a pair of governors – Minnesota’s Tim Walz and Maryland’s Wes Moore – headlined a weekend of events hosted by South Carolina Democrats, introducing themselves and testing out their possible candidacy arguments in front of the party faithful.

Both men also addressed attendees at Rep. Jim Clyburn’s World Famous Fish Fry, a storied night of cold drinks, hot fried fish and raucous political stumping in which scores of Democratic presidential hopefuls have participated through the years.