Political analyst Mark Halperin expressed doubt on Tuesday about Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom launching a 2028 presidential campaign.
Newsom holds 7% support among Democratic 2028 primary voters for who they would like to be their party’s presidential nominee in 2028, trailing only Vice President Kamala Harris, who is at 37%, according to a November Emerson College poll. However, Halperin, on “American Agenda,” suggested Newsom may lack both the ambition and circumstances necessary to mount a White House bid.
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“A lot of what Democrats want to see is someone who will be tough and take the fight directly to [President-elect] Donald Trump in a telegenic way … I think objectively he has some of those skills. I will say, I continue to believe people overstate his willingness to make the personal sacrifices to run for president,” Halperin said. “And also running for president from California geographically in the space time continuum is not easy to do. And again, I think if you combine that with the personal challenges, I think people, again, are overstating the likelihood that he’ll be a major player in ’28.”
“He’s got young kids. He’s got a wife who, by all accounts, is not super enthusiastic about this … I think it’s an under-discussed reality that a lot of the governors, including Governor Newsom, who are talked about as potential ’28 candidates … they’re just more ambivalent,” he added. “They don’t have the drive. Most people I know who run for president effectively wake up every morning and say, what are the 10 things I need to do today to increase my chances of winning? And if one of them is chew through handcuffs, they’ll do it. I just don’t get the sense that that’s where Gavin Newsom’s head is at.”
Halperin recently asserted on “The Morning Meeting” that Vice President-elect JD Vance’s willingness to conduct interviews across a variety of platforms gives him “a huge advantage” over other possible 2028 presidential contenders.
“I think one of the smartest things JD Vance could do to consolidate his position … is to go on those shows regularly. He can do it. He can develop personal relationships with those people, and people in the media, contrary to popular perception, are human beings,” Halperin said. “And if the vice president of the United States is stopping by your podcast every month and giving you time, you’re gonna be favorably disposed towards that person.”
However, former CNN political analyst Chris Cillizza also recently speculated about the possibility of Donald Trump Jr. running for the White House in 2028, suggesting he could inherit his father’s “political movement” rather than Vance.
“Look, I just think there will be an attempt at some point to hand off Trumpism, and Donald Trump will want to be in control of that handoff,” Cillizza said. “And the fact that his eldest son is standing right there, is someone who has shown that he gets the MAGA base in a way very few Republicans do, who has shown that he, in his own right, is extremely popular online, who gets the kind of social media trolling that goes hand in hand with being a Trump supporter, that he is related by blood to Donald Trump — these are all things that I think you cannot rule out Don Jr. of running in 2028.”
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