(MENAFN) California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Sunday he is contemplating a 2028 presidential campaign, characterizing President Donald Trump as destructive to American democracy.

"Yeah, I'd be lying otherwise," Newsom, 58, said in an exclusive interview on a news program regarding throwing his hat into the ring in the race for the presidency. "I'd just be lying. And I'm not — I can't do that."

His second gubernatorial term concludes January 2027, with California's term limits barring him from seeking reelection.

Newsom stressed that a formal presidential announcement remains years away.

"Fate will determine that," he said, referring to when he might make that decision.

The immediate priority involves Newsom's initiative to redraw California congressional districts, potentially creating five additional Democratic seats.

The strategy responds to Texas approving redistricting legislation that could generate five new Republican seats, aimed at preserving the Republican congressional majority during the 2026 midterm elections.

Republicans currently hold a slim majority of 219 seats in the House of Representatives and of 53 seats in the Senate.

While Texas enacted new congressional boundaries through Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and its Republican-controlled state legislature, Newsom placed Proposition 50 on the California ballot for a Nov. 4 election to let the voters decide.

Newsom stands among the rare political figures, Democratic or Republican, willing to publicly confront Trump, undeterred by presidential retaliation against adversaries.

"He's a wrecking ball," he said of Trump in the interview. "He's wrecking alliances, truth, trust, tradition, institutions."

"He's an invasive species ... for the country, for the world," he said after he was asked if Trump's federal immigration raids in California were an incentive for him to possibly run for president.

Newsom indicated his concentration centers on securing Proposition 50's November passage to empower Democrats against what numerous critics characterize as fascist and authoritarian governance under Trump.

"We can't stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district all across this country. We're giving the power to the people," he said.

"I think it's about our democracy, it's about the future of this Republic. I think it's about, you know, what the founding fathers lived and died for, this notion of the rule of law, not the rule of Don," he added.

Proposition 50's objective, the governor explained, extends beyond congressional redistricting to equalize partisan representation, instead targeting federal power equilibrium that the Constitution has established for centuries and preventing President Trump from elevating executive authority above legislative and judicial branches.

"Finally, you have rebalanced this system, a co-equal branch of government begins to assert itself, it appears again," Newsom said of passing Proposition 50.

The concern, Newsom elaborated, involves Trump rewriting legal frameworks and discovering methods to circumvent the constitutional two-term presidential restriction.

"If you have a (Republican House) Speaker (Mike) Johnson, you may have a third term of President Trump. I really believe that."

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