SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom doubled down Sunday on his declaration of “sub-zero interest” in a 2024 presidential candidacy, pledging in a debate with his GOP opponent to serve a full second term if re-elected as expected next month.
“Yes,” Newsom told moderator Marisa Lagos of KQED when asked if he’d commit to serving all four years.
Speculation about Newsom’s White House ambitions has been brewing for years. It peaked this summer with his campaign’s attack ads against red state governors and a withering assessment of his own party’s messaging, including a swipe at President Joe Biden as being “hardwired for a different world.”
Nevertheless, Newsom has repeatedly dismissed any interest in the nation’s highest office.
But recent history is replete with examples of politicians who made similar vows — only to later break them in pursuit of higher office.
•Elizabeth Warren: At a town hall meeting in April 2018, Warren said “it’s certainly my plan,” when asked by a moderator if she’d commit to finishing her second six-year term as U.S. senator, the Boston Globe reported. Ten months later, she launched her campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
•Kamala Harris: As she prepared to take the oath as a U.S. senator in January 2017, Harris dismissed the notion of a presidential run as a “distraction,” telling the Orange County Register that she was “entirely focused” on California’s interests. In January 2019 — two years into her six-year term — she announced her 2020 presidential bid.
•Ted Cruz: The Texas Republican, considered a rising party star after his election to the Senate in 2012, repeatedly downplayed the idea of a presidential candidacy. “I’m not focused on the politics ….” he told ABC News in 2013. He announced in March 2015 — less than two and half years into his first six-year term.
•Josh Hawley: The Missouri Republican, who would become the first U.S. Senator to announce that he planned to object to the certification of Biden as president, began his political career as state attorney general. He campaigned for the position by attacking “career politicians just climbing the ladder.” Less than one year into his first term, he announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate.
•Ron Johnson: Sometimes elected officials break promises to leave. The Senate Republican from Wisconsin pledged that if reelected in 2016, it would be his second and final term. Earlier this year, Johnson announced that he would pursue a third term, writing in an Opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that America was “in peril” and that as much as he’d like to “ease into a quiet retirement, I don’t feel I should.”
With the leader of his own party eligible and expected to run for re-election, Newsom may very well keep his promise to serve another full four years as California governor and wait his turn in 2028. Or perhaps, he’ll vie to replace 89-year-old Dianne Feinstein in the U.S. Senate when her term ends in 2024.
