Gov. Newsom launches four-day Southern tour to boost Democrats and test 2028 ambitions

Governor Gavin Newsom left California on Tuesday for a four-day Southern outreach, targeting Democratic voters in Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina while subtly testing the waters for a 2028 presidential campaign. In Montgomery, he will meet state senator Bobby Singleton, newly elected Alabama Democratic Party chair, and tour civil-rights sites with Mayor Steven Reed and attorney Bryan Stevenson, linking historic struggles to current battles over voting rights and redistricting.

The South Carolina leg features stops in Jasper, Beaufort, Dorchester, Aiken, Lexington and Lancaster counties, areas Trump carried in 2024, where Newsom hopes to demonstrate Democratic relevance beyond traditional blue strongholds. He will then travel to Charlotte for a town hall with the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party and a Labor Day rally in Union County, another Trump-won county. The trip follows the Democratic National Committee’s Aug. 15 decision to make South Carolina the first primary state in 2028, prompting strategic groundwork. Newsom’s campaign reports having raised $15.2 million through small-donor efforts, including over $2.2 million earmarked for Southern Democratic operations.