California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to be president, in case you didn’t know, but at this rate, he may not even become the Democratic nominee in 2028.
Newsom spent 65 hours in Michigan this week generating “a million views” of carefully produced social media content. He also drew what Spencer Pratt described on X as “a massive crowd of 17 septuagenarians” to a local barbecue. That’s the Newsom 2028 campaign in miniature. Million-view social media performance. Seventeen actual people.
Politico called it his “swing (and miss) state tour,” which is the kind of gentlemanly understatement that conceals a deeper disaster. Rep. Debbie Dingell — who was “largely responsible for nearly securing Michigan’s status as the fifth 2028 nominating state” — told Politico she didn’t hear from Newsom and didn’t expect to, adding she’s a “car girl,” a pointed reference to his 2035 ban on new gas-powered vehicle sales in California.
When the Michigan Democrat who controls early nominating state infrastructure is publicly noting she didn’t expect a call from your guy, your guy has a problem.
Newsom also managed to snub Virgie Rollins, the influential chair of the DNC’s Black Caucus. He initially planned two competing fundraisers in Ann Arbor — when the state House Democrats found out about the competing event they pulled out, citing a small Ann Arbor donor base.
Saying Ann Arbor has a small Democrat donor base is like saying you couldn’t spot tech bros in Palo Alto. It’s a tell. Someone on the Newsom team either didn’t do basic advance work or couldn’t coordinate the competing Democratic power centers that were all supposed to be thrilled by his arrival.
Then he spent “nearly an hour huddled with Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed” — the man who says Israel doesn’t have a right to exist, was backed by Hasan Piker praising Mao Zedong, and is currently bleeding former Biden officials, Jewish donors, and blue-collar Democrats to Mike Rogers. If Newsom is trying to win Michigan’s Arab American community, courting El-Sayed makes political sense. If he’s trying to win a general election, huddling with a candidate this toxic is a choice that will follow him into every debate in 2028.
The deeper Newsom problem is structural and California-specific. California breeds Democrats who never have to actually compete — they court the right donor network, they win primaries without developing the retail skills that general elections require, and then they step onto the national stage and discover that what works in Sacramento doesn’t work in Michigan. Kamala Harris learned this the expensive way — $1.4 billion and every swing state lost.
A California Democrat taken out of California is like the Boy in the Bubble stepping into a crowded room. The immunity isn’t there. The instincts weren’t developed. Newsom generated a million social media views. The barbecue had 17 people. Michigan noticed the difference. The voters Newsom needs will too.
