Ro Khanna, Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom could give California three candidates in the 2028 presidential race.

Three major California Democratic presidential candidates walk into a bar. What’s the punch line? No one knows yet, but it sure seems like none of them will be laughing when they hear it. 

Though not a bar, per se, the 2028 presidential race could include Bay Area political luminaries Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom and Ro Khanna. Never mind that it’s almost unheard of to have even two presidential candidates from the same state; why not try three from one that, let’s face it, is reviled by much of Red America? 

A 2025 survey by APM Research Lab, for instance, found that California had a -53 point favorability rating among Republicans and was the only state with a net negative rating. 

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“It’s not a good thing in national Democratic politics to be from California because our state is eyed with deep suspicion by those in the key primary states,” Steve Maviglio, a long-time California political consultant, told me.

Perhaps because they live in the Golden State, Harris, Newsom and Khanna don’t fully understand just how much of a liability that could be for them. UC Berkeley political science lecturer and former GOP aide Dan Schnur, for one, isn’t convinced: “I don’t think it will make much of a difference at all.”

Speaking of bets, last week I was talking to a D.C. political consultant.

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“Is Newsom for........

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