Governor Gavin Newsom has gained major political support. Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris In Tuesday’s presidential election. Newsom now has a direct path to the White House in 2028.

With Harris, his fellow Californian and longtime ally in the Democratic Party, not running for re-election in 2028, Newsom won’t find himself politically or morally precluded from entering the race.

That’s the traditional way to look at the election’s impact on Newsom. But there is another way: Newsom’s liberal anti-Trump policies were rejected by most American voters. What does this bode for his national political future?

California once again kept intact its record of never sending a Democrat to the White House, despite having the largest cache of electoral votes in the country. In fact, Harris was the first California Democrat to be nominated for president.

If Harris had won on Tuesday, Newsom, 57, could have won. He kissed any presidential aspirations goodbye. Instead, he was considering whether to ask Harris for a cabinet post, putting his final two years as governor behind him. That would be a terrible trade. Boring and boring. But this option is already off the table.

So should Newsom jump into the political breach and prepare to run if Trump is impeached in four years? In fact, Newsom needs to be at full throttle from the moment he is appointed governor, nearly two years from now, and warm up much sooner.

Of course, if deep down he really covets the Oval Office, go for it. I always had doubts and wondered if, like any politician, he enjoyed national attention and being mentioned in the same sentence as potential presidents. But I’m in the minority on this one.

“When any governor of California, by far the largest state with a larger population than Australia, looks in the mirror in the morning, he sees a president staring back at him,” says Garry South, the former Governor’s political strategist and veteran Democratic tactician. Gray Davis.

I also highly doubt Newsom will be elected president. Party’s candidacy? Maybe. What about Oval? Too liberal for most of America.

Longtime Democratic strategist Bill Carrick says that after a thorough post-mortem of Tuesday’s defeat, Democratic Party insiders “may conclude they can’t govern (in 2028) someone who seems too progressive.”

“I think a progressive could get the nomination if they were a good enough candidate,” Carrick adds. “But can they win in November? That’s the big question.”

No matter what happens, Newsom will inevitably be pushed into the presidential arena by the news media, which has declared him one of the leading candidates. His personality and name help TV ratings and attract clicks and reader attention.

“He’s one of the most charismatic and articulate people Democrats have right now,” says South, who advised the then-San Francisco mayor when he tried to run for governor in 2010 before stepping aside for Jerry Brown.

“Opposition to Trump’s policies must have a Democratic face, and Newsom can play that role,” South says. “There has to be a Democrat who shows up. And after Newsom’s term is up, he’ll be free of wanderings and fantasies.”

Newsom isn’t waiting for his day job to be over. The governor emerged Thursday in a rally that signaled he wants to lead the attack on Trump.

Newsom calls for special legislative session – He likes to hold these attention-grabbing “special” hearings “to protect California and fundamental rights in the face of the incoming Trump administration.”

“The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack, and we will not stand idly by,” the governor said in a statement. “We are ready to fight…”

He said lawmakers “will focus on supporting civil rights, reproductive freedom, climate action, and California legal resources to protect immigrant families.”

In other words, political animal Newsom is marking his territory as the anti-Trump lead dog.

Actually, this is just the next phase of his previous cross-country travels Promoting the Democratic ticket while laying the groundwork for a potential presidential bid.

One factor that Newsom (or any Democrat) will likely benefit from in 2028 is that voters will be looking for change again after four years of the Trump administration. The primary motivation behind voting in the last three presidential elections has been the demand for change.

Trump was elected in 2016 because voters wanted a change from Democrat Barack Obama’s two presidential terms. And Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton certainly did not represent change.

Then in 2020, voters demanded change from the despicable Trump and elected Joe Biden. On Tuesday, they asked for help from the “Biden-Harris” administration. By 2028, they will likely be fed up with Trumpism again.

But the presidency may be a bridge too far for a California Democrat.

For much of America, we’re La La Land on the left coast; We are a socialist state with the likes of San Francisco liberals Harris and Newsom; It welcomes illegal immigration, keeps an eye on criminals, over-regulates business, and stifles successful people with sky-high taxes.

Newsom should focus on polishing his record as governor of California rather than attacking Trump even before all the votes are counted. Homelessness remains a shameful situation. People are fleeing the state because they can’t afford to live here. The tax system is old and broken.

Even California voters disagree with Newsom’s lenient sentencing policies for repeat offenders; As the overwhelming approval of Proposition 36 demonstrates.

And it should tone down extreme rhetoric about climate change. Not every wildfire, flood, hurricane or hot day is the result of global warming. And constantly attacking Big Oil is an attack on thousands of workers who vote.

So yeah, start running for president, but move a little bit toward the middle.

George Skelton is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times.

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