Although it is only the summer of 2026, Gavin Newsom is already part of a group of Democrats looking ahead to the 2028 presidential race.
Newsom, California’s second-term governor and one of President Donald Trump’s most visible Democratic critics, has conceded that he is weighing a possible White House campaign.
Speaking to CBS News last year, he said he would be “lying” if he claimed he was not considering it.
More recently, Newsom drew national attention after revealing that he and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, are under investigation by the Justice Department.
The inquiry appears to have originated from whistleblower complaints raising questions about potential tax matters involving nonprofits connected to Newsom’s wife, though officials have not publicly disclosed the probe’s current status or what may come next.
Newsom has sharply denounced the investigation, calling it a politically driven “witch hunt” aimed at damaging a presidential run before it formally gets underway.
Even so, a notable share of Democrats appear to express at least some approval of the inquiry, according to a new Daily Mail poll.
A Daily Mail/JL Partners survey found that 27 percent of Democratic voters — more than one in four — said they either “strongly support” or “somewhat support” the Justice Department investigation involving Newsom and his wife.
Among those voters, 13 percent expressed strong support; 14 percent backed it with the slightly less effusive ‘somewhat’ support level.
A larger 39 percent of Democrat voters said they either ‘strongly oppose’ or ‘somewhat oppose’ the investigation, while 32 percent of voters said they ‘neither support nor oppose’ the investigation, or were otherwise unsure.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom attends the FIFA World Cup match between the US and Paraguay in Los Angeles, California
US Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, speaks with California Governor Gavin Newsom in Chicago, Illinois
President Donald Trump speaks at the White House. Governor Gavin Newsom has emerged as one of Trump’s most outspoken political foes, and the two have most recently been at odds over reports of a new DOJ investigation into Newsom and his wife
Jennifer Siebel Newsom attends the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York
California Governor Gavin Newsom and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom are seen in Chicago, Illinois
A giant portrait of President Donald Trump looks down from the Justice Department in Washington, DC
Among independent US voters, a much stronger 43 percent said they either strongly or somewhat supported the investigation.
Predictably, Republicans had the highest support for the probe of Newsom and his wife, with a whopping 70 percent of Republican voters expressing some level of support for the Justice Department investigation, out of the 1,059 registered national voters who responded to the poll.
Details of the investigation remain murky for now, and neither the Justice Department nor Newsom’s office have responded to inquiries for comment on the matter.
Newsom, for his part, has denounced the investigation as an effort to dampen his presidential aspirations, arguing he is just latest on a long list of political foes Trump has sought to prosecute in his second term as president.
‘Donald Trump isn’t just coming after me because of my mean tweets,’ Newsom said in a video shared to social media last month. ‘He’s coming after me because I am considering running for president.’
Former Vice President and then-Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is seen with her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, in Milwaukee during the 2024 presidential race
American flags are planted in the ground in front of a banner of President Donald Trump and the US Department of Labor building, ahead of July 4th festivities
California Governor Gavin Newsom is seen at the 33rd Annual White House Correspondents’ Garden Brunch with his wife, Jennifer
Though the 2028 election is still a ways away, Democrats have long been mulling over who might be their most competitive contender.
Among likely candidates for the 2028 ticket, 29 percent of registered Democrat voters in the US said they would vote for former Vice President Kamala Harris. Among the 1,040 registered voters who took part in the Daily Mail/JL Partners poll, Harris held a fourteen-point lead over Newsom, who came in second with 15 percent support.
Democrats ranked former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg third in the same survey, with 11 percent of support from likely voters.
More broadly, US voters appear to be open to electing a Democrat for higher office: If the midterm elections were held tomorrow, the Daily Mail/JL Partners survey found, a Democratic candidate would hold an 8 point lead among likely voters.
