In an exclusive interview with Robert Costa for "CBS Sunday Morning," California Governor Gavin Newsom described the Democrats' redistricting in his state as an effort to ensure "the future of this republic" – and a necessary measure to counter President Trump's push to expand Republican gains in the U.S. House and secure its narrow majority.  

The vote on Proposition 50 this November 4 was just one of the issues the Democrat discussed, including his own plans for the 2028 election.

Proposition 50

Newsom has been stumping across his state advocating for redistricting, in response to President Trump's redistricting push in Republican-controlled states, like Texas.

Rather than gerrymander districts in the state legislature, as Texas did, California is putting a ballot initiative, Proposition 50, before the voters on November 4 in order to allow for redistricting in next year's midterm election.

If Proposition 50 succeeds next week, Democrats will change the boundaries of U.S. House districts in California, making it easier for their party to win up to five more seats. (The state currently has 43 U.S. House seats held by Democrats, and 9 by Republicans.)

Newsom is framing the effort as something about more than California's Congressional delegation, but about oversight of the Trump administration. "I think it's about our democracy," he said. "It's about the future of this republic. I think it's about, you know, what the founding fathers lived and died for, this notion of the rule of law, and not the rule of Don. This rule of popular sovereignty fundamentally, of co-equal branches of government, system of checks and balances.

Newsom believes that if his party takes back control of the House and replaces Republican Speaker Mike Johnson with a Democrat, the Trump presidency will effectively be over. "[Trump's] presidency de facto ends, if we are successful, we the people are successful, in taking back the House," he said. "You'll have rebalanced the system. Co-equal branch of government begins to assert itself. It appears again."

But he fears what may happen if Democrats do not gain control in the House: "If you have a Speaker Johnson, we may have a third-term of President Trump, I really believe that," a nod to Mr. Trump's public musing about seeking a third term despite the U.S. Constitution limiting presidents to two terms in office.  

Trump's military deployments

Newsom has fought Mr. Trump's deployment of federal agents in California – from Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Los Angeles, to the threat of federalized National Guard troops in San Francisco and the Bay Area (which the president later pulled back). In fact, the state has filed 43 lawsuits against the Trump administration since Inauguration Day.

Costa asked, "What's it's like being the governor of the state of California, and not knowing, day-to-day, if the federal government's going to be sending agents or not to your state?"

"It's a hell of a way to govern," Newsom replied. "I mean, we're just governing just profound uncertainty, the sort of tectonic plates that we're familiar with out here on the West Coast, but on the nature of our politics. I've said this – may not be a sort of prudent thing to say about a President of the United States – but I mean, he's an invasive species."

"For California?"

"For the country. For the world," Newsom said. "He's a wrecking ball. Not just the symbolism and substance of the East Wing; he's wrecking alliances, truth, trust, tradition, institutions."

He also rejected suggestions that ICE agents are needed in California because of what the White House called "third-world insurrection riots on American soil."

"California cooperates as it relates to criminals," he said. "We continue to cooperate out of our state penitentiary system hundreds of people every month that we coordinate with ICE to go after the 'worst of the worst.' That's not what this is about, and everybody knows it. You don't just randomly show up at a car wash and tell me it's about the 'worst of the worst.' You don't randomly show up at the showrooms or the parking lots of every Home Depot."

Podcasting as a means to understand Trump supporters

Newsom isn't just opposing Mr. Trump; he's also trying to understand the MAGA movement. His podcast, "This Is Gavin Newsom," not only welcomes figures on his side of the political aisle, but also the president's allies, from Steve Bannon and Newt Gingrich to the late Charlie Kirk.

Newsom said his own son has reminded him about paying attention to other voices. "We've got a crisis in this country besides the crisis that we've discussed around the future of this republic," he said. "We also have a crisis with masculinity and men. Men are struggling. … I mean, suicide rates are off the chart, dropout rates, suspension rates, loneliness, despair, depths of despair. It's a serious crisis, what's going on in this country.

"Democrats haven't focused on that issue. And I'm very proud of the work, substantive work we're doing in this, but I've also been using the podcast to highlight that."

Mocking Trump on social media

The governor also uses satire to tweak the president, aping Mr. Trump's prolific use of social media. Newsom's communications team regularly parodies President Trump's use of all-caps and AI-generated images, even signing off, "THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. — GCN"

Newsom has said that his social-media posts are driven by both his desire to add a sense of humor to politics, and to challenge President Trump by using Trump-style tactics. 

2028 plans

This past July, "Sunday Morning" spent a day following Newsom across South Carolina, a key state in the 2028 presidential race. Newsom worked the crowds, shaking hands and even pulling espresso shots at a coffee bar.

Newsom's visit sparked interest among those at his events and in political circles that he might be mulling his own White House bid.

"I'm looking forward to who presents themselves in 2028 and who meets that moment. And that's the question for the American people. They'll make that determination," Newsom said in the interview this past week.

Costa asked, "Is it fair to say after the 2026 midterms, you're going to give it serious thought?"

"Yeah. I'd be lying otherwise. I'd just be lying. And I'm – I can't do that."

He said it would be important for a candidate to impart to voters exactly why they are running. "Nietzsche said, 'If you have a compelling why, you can endure any how.' And so, I think the biggest challenge for anyone who runs for any office is people see right through you if you don't have that why. You're doing it for the wrong reasons."

"When I saw you slinging shots behind the coffee bar, I thought, 'This guy might run for president.'" Costa said.

Newsom, who as a child was diagnosed with dyslexia, said, "The idea that a guy who got 960 on his SAT, that still struggles to read scripts, that was always in the back of the classroom – the idea that you even throw that out is, in and of itself, extraordinary," he laughed. "Who the hell knows?"

     
Story produced by Ed Forgotson and John Goodwin. Editor: Chad Cardin.

    
See also: 

• Gavin Newsom says he will consider White House run after 2026 elections