Newsom on whether he’d be a good president: ‘I have no idea’

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Thursday that he was unsure whether he would make a good president, amid growing speculation he will run for the White House in 2028.

Asked during an interview with “Detroit Talk City” if he would be a good president, Newsom responded: “That’s a, that’s a difficult question to answer.”

“I have no idea. I would like to think I would be, but that’s for others to determine,” he continued.

“I think I was a pretty good mayor. I think I was pretty good, but people have different opinions, and so I’m not naive about it,” he concluded.

Newsom was the mayor of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011 before becoming California’s governor.

The Public Policy Institute of California found in May that 50 percent of California adults approve of Newsom’s job performance as governor. This is down from October and December 2025, when Newsom’s approval rating hovered around 54 percent.

Newsom is one of several Democrats seemingly eyeing 2028 bids. Other potential candidates include Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), former Vice President Kamala Harris, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and former Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.).

Newsom said in October 2025 that he would be “lying” if he said he wasn’t considering a bid for the White House after the 2026 midterms.

A Emerson College and The Hill survey that ranked potential match-ups between potential GOP and Democratic presidential candidates found Newsom in a decent position.

Newsom held small leads over both potential Republican nominees, Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, unlike Ocasio-Cortez, who trailed both candidates.

The survey had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Prediction markets still have Newsom as one of the top candidates, with Ocasio-Cortez moving ahead of him by 1 point in early prediction market odds for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.