Newsom publishes memoir as he weighs 2028 US presidential run

California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, published his memoir on Tuesday (24 February) in a step experts said was necessary before rolling out any future campaign.

Such books offer "a sort of summary" of a potential candidate's view of the country and allow a politician to "sort of control" publicity outside of the normal news cycle, said Brian Arbour, a political science professor at the City University of New York.

Travis Ridout, a political science professor at Washington State University, said book tours "give potential candidates a way to campaign without really admitting that they are campaigning."

Through a book, he said, politicians can "establish an official version of their background and experiences" and "make them seem credible" before a campaign.

But Newsom insists that "Young Man in a Hurry," published a year late due to the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, is not "one of those political books that I wrote just to get it ahead of some cycle in the calendar year."

"It's not about the politician. It's about what shaped me - the events, the travails, the setbacks, self-imposed and otherwise, the insecurities, the anxieties, the regrets," he said at a promotional event in New York on Tuesday.

At 58 years old, the former mayor of San Francisco, who built his career in winemaking and hospitality, reflects in the book on his dyslexia and his upbringing between a mother working multiple jobs and a father who was a judge close to some of California's wealthiest people.

Another potential presidential candidate, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, released his own book at the end of January, while New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear will do the same later this year.

Fighting fire with fire

Speaking to several hundred New Yorkers at the event, Newsom said his book was not a "10-point plan for America's renewal."

He said Democrats were not taking enough action to win the argument against Republicans on various issues.

"Sometimes we sit back, we're on our heels. We're not leaning in," he said.

"We just think the facts are going to bear up. We can win the argument. We can moralise this. That doesn't work anymore with Donald Trump; we have to fight fire with fire."

Samantha Reilly, a 58-year-old accountant from Long Island who attended the event, said she saw Newsom as a strong presidential candidate.

"He's vying for it. And yes, I think he would be a good prospect, actually. I love the way he took on Trump," she said.

The stops on Newsom's book tour also raised eyebrows among the experts who spoke to AFP. New York is a typical location, but Georgia, South Carolina and New Hampshire are less so.

Those states will be key in the primaries that decide who the Democratic presidential nominee.

"Newsom might also want to show some appeal in the South, a region of the country in which a Californian might not seem a natural fit," said Ridout.

Arbour believes it's an attempt to appeal to African-American Democratic voters.

"The reason it's important on the Democratic side is that usually slightly over half of the electorate in the South Carolina Democratic primary is African American," he said.

"It plays a very important role, because obviously African Americans are an essential part of the Democratic base."

Newsom's team, meanwhile, told Politico the book tour was planned to show "support" for Democratic candidates in Republican strongholds and "up and down the ballot."

The governor of California since 2019 insists he has not decided whether he will run for president in 2028.

He told CNN on Sunday that he will make any future decision with his wife and four children.