CAMDEN, South Carolina — Gavin Newsom sweated through his shirt, quoted from Corinthians and railed against Donald Trump as he blitzed across this early primary state. And then, in this small city just northeast of Columbia, Newsom grinned sheepishly as the Democratic kingmaker of South Carolina introduced him late Tuesday as one of “these candidates that are running for president.”
“It’s no secret,” Rep. Jim Clyburn told reporters after praising Newsom to roughly 200 people piled into a community center here. Then, Clyburn made a prediction sure to echo across political corridors from Philadelphia to Springfield, and from Frankfort to Denver, where eyes are already transfixed on even the most incremental 2028 developments. “I feel good about his chances.”
Appearing with Democratic Party leaders and packing rooms as he opened a two-day swing through the state, Newsom offered a preview of the presidential campaign he is likely to run in 2028. Far removed politically from 2024, when the California governor visited the state to stump for Joe Biden, Newsom this week was laying groundwork of his own, casting himself as a pugnacious opponent of the Trump administration and bragging that California is the “most un-Trump state in America.”
“American citizens feel like they’re being hunted, racially profiled,” Newsom told the crowd at a coffee shop in Marion County, referencing recent immigration raids in Los Angeles.
“That’s why I’m here — we cannot afford to allow this to happen.”
Officially, that’s how the trip was billed by Newsom’s team — a visit to support local Democrats and disaster-torn communities in this deeply red state that stand to see health care cuts under Trump’s agenda.
“Our fixation with the guy riding down on a white horse to come save the day is a big, big mistake,” Newsom told reporters when asked about a possible 2028 bid, instead advocating for local outreach like his South Carolina visit.
But it was also an audition. Some local Democratic Party activists who came to see him followed Newsom from stop to stop. One county party official asked a Newsom staffer about internship opportunities in the small town of Mullins, just east of Florence.
“Oh absolutely we’re excited,” said South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain. “He’s on the national stage fighting against Trump all the time, and I think voters here appreciate that.”
Voters, too, were getting their first look at Newsom in the flesh. Across roughly a half-dozen stops in five cities on Tuesday, multiple Democrats said the governor ranked high on their early list of 2028 favorites, citing what they described as his willingness to defend Democratic values like diversity and education from Trump administration attacks.
“If you need a vice president to run with you, come see me,” Drew Foil, a veteran jeweler, told Newsom when the governor visited his shop while touring the town of Mullins in Marion County.
“He’s not afraid to speak his mind,” said Karen Preston, a local Democrat who saw Newsom speak at the same event. “He has a way of communicating that people listen to.”
Still, most Democrats watching Newsom acknowledged the long road ahead before they proclaim a favorite, or fall behind an inevitable frontrunner. Recent polls show former Vice President Kamala Harris (whom Clyburn called “my girl” back in 2024) with a wide lead among Black voters, which make up a substantial share of the Democratic electorate in South Carolina.
Newsom, for his part, told dozens of people at a Baptist church in Chesterfield County that he felt like he “could have done a bit extra” for Harris in last year’s campaign. But he didn’t commit to backing her if she ran again in 2028 or even vied for California’s governorship in 2026.
“Let’s figure out which,” Newsom told reporters when asked about Harris. “We’ll see what decisions she makes.”
Other potential presidential contenders like Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are making inroads with visits to the state. And Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Southern governor often regarded as more moderate than Newsom, is scheduled to visit for a labor event later this month.
“This ain’t California, man,” said John Drew, 48, a real estate professional who briefly lived in San Francisco, when Newsom was mayor in the late 2000s, before moving back to South Carolina. “Around here, they think he’s a liberal.”
Newsom has sought to challenge that perception. He shocked Democrats earlier this year by saying it was “unfair” for transgender students to play girls’ sports. And he’s angered some leaders of his own party by hosting a revolving door of conservative stars like Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon on his podcast.
But in South Carolina, Newsom was decidedly playing to the crowd.
In Florence, he quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s notion of an “inescapable network of mutuality” (as he did during prior stops across the South) and then Corinthians — “Many parts, as the Bible said, but one body,” Newsom said, referring to a famous passage from the New Testament — in a plea for more interparty civility.
People in the crowd shouted back, “That’s right.”