Gavin Newsom swings through South Carolina, where Democrats will play pivotal 2028 nominating role

Yahoo

3 days ago

BENNETTSVILLE, S.C. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday launched a two-day tour of South Carolina, calling on voters across rural areas — some tucked in GOP strongholds — to exercise their 'moral authority' in standing up to President Donald Trump and Republicans in next year's midterm elections.
But more than that, Newsom's foray into the state, which for years has held one of the earliest voting contests on the Democratic presidential primary calendar, serves as a strong signal that the governor of the most populous state is eyeing a 2028 White House bid.
Newsom spent Tuesday in small towns across northeastern South Carolina, speaking to crowds in coffee shops and small businesses, shaking hands or posing for photos with scores of them. In Florence, he focused his comments on what he said is the need to address the nation's divisions by being intentional in having conversations with people of diverse viewpoints.
'I think it's really important for Democrats that we spend time in parts of our states, parts of our country, that frankly, we haven't spent enough time in, and so that's why I'm here,' Newsom said.
In Mullins, Newsom arrived at another coffee shop nearly an hour late, a delay attributed to him stopping by an annual gathering of some 2,500 AME bishops. Newsom said the sermon left him 'spellbound.'
Later Tuesday afternoon in Bennettsville — where Democratic state Rep. Jason Luck said 'no one remembers' the last time even the state's own governor, let alone one from another state, visited — state Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain thanked Newsom for being 'generous with his cash.' It was a nod to a recent fundraising email sent by the governor that Newsom said had raised $160,000 for the South Carolina party.
At each stop, Newsom called on Democrats to show their strength in next year's midterm elections, a peg for potential national candidates to begin introducing themselves to voters in early primary states such as South Carolina. Increasing Democrats' numbers in Congress, he argued in Bennettsville, would diminish Donald Trump's power, allowing Democrats to 'leverage this country."
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 image as a San Francisco liberal and get ahead of what is sure to be a crowded 2028 Democratic primary field. The visit also will help him make inroads with the diverse Democratic electorate whose buy-in has long been seen as critical for their party's nominee.
On Wednesday, Newsom turns toward the conservative Upstate, among the state's most GOP-rich areas. He will kick off with an event in the small town of Seneca, which four-term GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham calls home. In last year's general election, 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 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. The state is embroiled in a fight with the Trump administration over whether transgender athletes can compete in girls' high school sports, with the U.S. Department of Education finding that the state violated Title IX, the federal law that bans sex discrimination in education.
Newsom also said dismantling police departments was 'lunacy," and he kept silent when another of his podcast guests, 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 the state party intends to make the argument that it should retain the 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 because of 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 their possible candidacy arguments in front of the party faithful.
Both 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.
___
Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.