Gov. Gavin Newsom will spend two days in rural South Carolina next week, sparking speculation that the California Democrats are laying the foundation for the 2028 presidential campaign.
Newsom will be staying in eight rural counties during its visits Tuesday and Wednesday, the state’s “most economically challenging and environmentally fragile.”
State Democratic Party Chairman Christale Spain Spain said in a statement that Newsom tours through pee, the Midlands and Upstate regions aim to show rural voters “a area that has been hollowed out for decades” and “they have not been forgotten”.
Newsom’s visit is also targeting one of a state that will hold its first Democratic primary in 2028. But Lindsey Cobia, a senior political adviser at Newsom, denied that the governor laid the foundation for the presidential campaign.
Cobia said Newsom’s “complete focus” is helping Democrats win the U.S. House of Representatives in 2026 and “an alert to rural families and communities that have abandoned disaster relief by the Trump administration.”
Newsom’s tour with South Carolina Democrats, known as “On the Road with Governor Newsom,” includes stops in Marion, Chesterfield, Marlboro, Laurens, Pickens, Pickens, Oconee, Oconee, Kershaw and Florence counties. Posts and messengers reported that Newsom’s schedule will include stopping in small environments such as cafes, coffee shops, community centers and churches.
The tour will bring news magazines to some of the most popular counties in the state. Seven of the eight county news magazines are scheduled to visit President Trump in November, including him receiving 75% of the vote.
Travel to South Carolina is one of several proposals Newsom has made to voters in the South in recent years. He was in trouble in South Carolina in 2024. In 2023, he held a highly publicized debate with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. In 2022, he bought Texas and Florida advertisements, whose governors stand for gun violence and abortion.
Newsom isn’t the only California Democrat to visit South Carolina this month.
Silicon Valley’s U.S. representative Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) will work with advocacy groups from July 19-20 to hold a town hall in Palmeto State to protect our care, which has been mobilizing voters in swinger districts from planned Republican cuts.
