(New York) Democratic Governor of California Gavin Newson, considered one of the most serious potential candidates for the 2028 presidential election, published his memoirs on Tuesday – a necessary step before a possible entry into the campaign, according to experts in American politics.
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In the same camp, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro released his own book at the end of January. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear will do the same later this year.
For Brian Arbor, professor of political science at the City University of New York (CUNY), these works, “a sort of synthesis of the vision” that their authors have of the United States, offer them “controlled publicity outside the usual news cycle”.
“Promotional tours allow potential candidates to campaign without really recognizing that they are campaigning,” says Travis Ridout, professor of political science at Washington State University.
The expert also sees it as a way to “give credibility” to the thinking of these politicians and to establish “an “official” version of their journeys and experiences”.
But Gavin Newsom assures that Young Man in a Hurry (Young man in a hurry), published a year late due to the January 2025 fires in Los Angeles, is “not one of those political books written just to come out at a certain time”.
“It’s not about the politician. It’s about what shaped me: the events, the trials, the setbacks, self-inflicted or not, the insecurities, the anxieties, the regrets,” he said during a promotional event in New York on Tuesday.
At 58, the former mayor of San Francisco (his hometown), who made a career in viticulture and the hotel industry, looks back on his dyslexia or even on his paradoxical upbringing, between a mother doing many odd jobs and a father who is a judge close to the great fortunes of California.
“Fight fire with fire”
In front of a few hundred New Yorkers, he assured that his book was not “a 10-point plan for the renewal of America”. Before slipping in some ideas for that of the Democratic Party which “does not move forward” and “lets itself be shaped” rather than “shaping” itself.
Faced with Donald Trump, it is no longer possible to “emerge victorious from the argument” based on “facts” or “moral” arguments; “we must fight fire with fire,” argues this virulent opponent of the American president.
In the audience, Samantha Reilly, a 58-year-old accountant living on Long Island, made no mistake. She “absolutely” sees Gavin Newsom as a potential candidate. “He fights in that sense,” she said, appreciating “the way he went after Trump.”
The places chosen to present his book also challenged the experts interviewed by AFP: if New York is a usual stop, Georgia, South Carolina or New Hampshire are less so.
On the specialized site Politico, his team spoke of a desire to “support” the Democrats in Republican strongholds.
But these states will also be key during the primaries which will nominate the Democratic presidential candidate.
“Gavin Newsom perhaps wants to show that he can please people from the South, a region where a Californian does not necessarily seem out of place,” says Travis Ridout.
Brian Arbor guesses, for his part, an attempt to seduce the African-American Democratic electorate.
The governor of California (since 2019) repeats in any case that he has not yet made the decision to run. He will do it as a family, with his wife and four children, he assured CNN on Sunday.
