Gavin Newsom isn’t ready to endorse a successor

One day before Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) became the third serious Democratic candidate to launch her campaign for governor in 2026, I interviewed Gov. Gavin Newsom and brought up the idea of whether he planned to endorse in the race.

He grumbled about having only served “five goddamn years.”

“Ask me in 2025 or something. I barely, I barely...,” he said before trailing off.

Newsom isn’t wrong to think talk of his successor is a bit premature. He still has three years left in office before the next governor takes over.

It’s also hypocritical if he feels sensitive about the race encroaching on his second term.

Newsom waited all of three months after former Gov. Jerry Brown was elected to a second term to announce his run to replace him in 2019.

Newsom hasn’t been shy about acknowledging the pressure he feels to get as much done as he can with the time he has left. He called himself a future “ex-governor” at his budget press conference earlier this month. As the 2026 gubernatorial race gets underway, the candidates are already talking about how they would do the job similarly to, or differently from, Newsom.

“As an executive, I really believe it is about setting an agenda, but I think it’s about being incredibly focused on a smaller number of issues,” Atkins said in an interview with The Times before her announcement.

Atkins didn’t mention Newsom, nor did she need to. The governor faced criticism throughout his first years in office for taking on a wide slate of issues.

When pressed to define the issues she feels are most important Atkins rattled off housing, homelessness, climate change, water resources, transportation, creating jobs, expanding educational opportunities, public safety and crime — making it clear that narrowing an agenda is harder than it seems.

I’m Taryn Luna, the reporter who covers Newsom for The Times, filling in this week for Sacramento Bureau Chief Laurel Rosenhall. Here is the week’s biggest news in California politics:

The Senate race comes to life

Three congressional Democrats and a former-Dodger-turned-Republican-candidate clashed over the war in Gaza and pitched their plans to address homelessness and protect reproductive freedom in a debate Monday night among hopefuls in the 2024 California Senate race.

Reps. Adam B. Schiff of Burbank, Katie Porter of Irvine and Barbara Lee of Oakland — and Times columnists — showed no love for Steve Garvey, a newcomer to politics and supporter of former President Trump, as they took shots at each other for the first time in person since their respective campaigns launched.

The debate, held at USC and hosted by Fox 11 News and Politico, was one of three scheduled before the March 5 primary election, when California voters will decide which two candidates will face off in November.

My colleagues Ben Oreskes and Laura J. Nelson offer up five takeaways from the clash, while Times columnists Mark Z. Barabak and Robin Abcarian explain why they are less than impressed with Garvey.

The lashing Garvey received from the Democrats on the debate stage may, in fact, help the former baseball player rally support from Republican voters, Times columnist George Skelton points out.

Harris visits California, Newsom leaves

Vice President Kamala Harris is ping-ponging up and down the Golden State this week to raise money for President Biden’s reelection.

A welcoming committee that included Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass greeted the vice president at Los Angeles International Airport in the afternoon before she traveled to Manhattan Beach on Wednesday for a campaign fundraiser. She stressed the high stakes of the 2024 presidential election and told the crowd of about 200 people that Trump’s “intent is to be a dictator” at the event hosted by attorneys Moez Kaba and Bjorn Lundberg.

She’s in Sacramento Thursday to speak to state lawmakers at a Democratic caucus reception. Then she is expected to attend a Biden campaign reception with Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who is running for governor and was listed as a “special guest” on the invitation, before traveling back to Los Angeles. Tickets range from $5,000 to $50,000.

The vice president heads to Las Vegas on Saturday, where she will deliver remarks at an event with Congressman Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) and attend another campaign event.

Meanwhile, Newsom left the state Tuesday for South Carolina, where he’ll join a series of campaign events in Beaufort, Orangeburg and Sumter counties with the South Carolina Democrat Party on Wednesday as a member of the Biden-Harris 2024 National Advisory Board.

The Democratic governor will also attend an event at Morris College in Sumter, S.C., on Thursday morning. Newsom will be in Las Vegas on Friday for a get-out-the-vote event with former Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak before returning to California.

Keeping up with California politics

Willamson’s California roots
Presidential long shot Marianne Williamson, a longtime Californian once known as Oprah Winfrey’s “spiritual guru,” tests whether she can win votes in New Hampshire.

It’s over: Trump wins the first Republican primary
Trump won the first Republican primary Tuesday in New Hampshire over former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, all but sealing his party’s nomination and setting up an expected rematch with President Biden.

Supreme Court rules for Biden administration in Texas border dispute
The Supreme Court said Monday that the U.S. Border Patrol may remove barbed wire installed by Texas authorities that prevents the federal agents from monitoring areas along the Rio Grande in a 5-to-4 ruling in favor of the Biden administration.

A California congressman tries to get New Hampshire voters to write in Biden
This year, the Democratic National Committee pushed aside New Hampshire for South Carolina, the state that put Biden on the path to the nomination four years ago. But Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) and other Biden supporters hoped that write-in votes would allow the president to secure a strong showing in the state’s unofficial Democratic primary.

Ron DeSantis ends his presidential campaign and endorses Trump
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination Sunday and endorsed former President Trump, saying it was now clear that “a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance.” Newsom, who predicted DeSantis would bow out and back Trump when the pair debated on Fox News in November, celebrated.