Gavin Newsom reveals his timeline for deciding 2028 presidential run

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he will decide by early January whether to run for president in 2028, revealing his political timetable during a trip to the COP31 international climate conference in Turkey where he criticized President Donald Trump.

“I’ll make the determination at the beginning of the year, so we’ll spend the next few weeks with the family and make a decision early January,” Newsom told Turkey’s Anadolu news agency, calling the midterm elections a “rebuke” of Trump.

Newsom’s remarks elevate yet another international trip in which he praised California’s environmental policies and attacked Trump’s retreat from global climate pacts.

The outgoing governor met with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to discuss expanding California’s climate partnership with Brazil, and also finalized a new climate agreement with Portugal, according to the governor’s office.

The governor and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom also visited a forestry training center to exchange wildfire lessons, and he joined governors and mayors — including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and London Mayor Sadiq Khan — at a gathering convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Newsom’s international globetrotting this year has generally been paid for by wealthy benefactors who fund the California State Protocol Foundation, a nonprofit that has paid for Newsom’s travel expenses instead of taxpayer money.

Newsom and his wife are currently the focus of federal investigations, and feds reportedly requested information about the Protocol Foundation’s donors and fundraisers in subpoenas. Investigators were seeking the governor’s international travel and events, and any money used for the governor’s living and personal expenses, according to the San Francisco Standard.

But new polling suggests the recent election outcomes may not bode well for Newsom, as his chances of winning the Democratic presidential nomination plunged to just 7% in prediction markets.

Newsom said this month’s election results have placed an obligation on his party to deliver.

“I’m particularly pleased with the outcome of the election, and I think the vast majority of people around the globe are very pleased with the outcome of the election as well,” he said.

🗣️ California Gov. Gavin Newsom calls US midterm results ‘historic rebuke’ of President Donald Trump

📌 Newsom says Democrats must offer positive alternative ahead of 2028 elections

🗓️ Says will decide on his political future in early January https://t.co/aHPFpoxi86 pic.twitter.com/z5ArtQRg6b

— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) November 12, 2026

For the second consecutive year, the Trump administration did not send a delegation to the annual summit, according to Newsom’s office.

Newsom’s travels also drew a jab from Democratic political strategist Steve Maviglio, who contrasted Gov.-elect Xavier Becerra’s efforts to ingratiate himself with Democratic lawmakers in Sacramento to the outgoing governor’s focus.

“This will be a refreshing change. A Governor who spends time working with the legislature instead of junkets to Turkey,” Maviglio wrote on X.

Newsom has played coy about his presidential ambitions, openly discussing the possibility while leaving himself room to walk away.

In September, Newsom told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he would sit out the 2028 race if former Vice President Kamala Harris entered.

“I don’t know if she runs, but we’ll see,” Newsom said during a fly-fishing interview in Montana. “I wouldn’t run if she ran.”

The claim elicited more than a few eyerolls among those in both Democratic and Republican political circles. But Newsom described a showdown between him and Harris as “mutual assured destruction,” pointing to their overlapping networks of friends and supporters.

Newsom also said his wife and children would have to support a campaign.

“If they’re not on board,” he said, “that’s a nonstarter.”

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