California Gov. Gavin Newsom is pitching himself to Miami voters. What to expect

Claire Heddles, Miami Herald on Mar 12, 2026

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MIAMI — California Gov. Gavin Newsom will be in Miami Friday night in the latest stop on a book tour that has looked a lot like an early campaign for a likely 2028 presidential run.

Longtime Univision news anchor Jorge Ramos and his daughter Paola Ramos — a journalist whose latest book interrogates the rise of the Latino far right — are moderating the conversation at Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center.

The Ramos pair’s podcast, “The Moment,” focuses on political analysis from “a unique Latino perspective,” suggesting Newsom could face questions in Miami on how he plans to sell Democratic policies to the South Florida Hispanic voters with whom Donald Trump made inroads in 2024.

His book tour stops thus far have featured interviews with Democratic leaders and prominent progressive voices across Southern states like Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina — and key campaign states like New Hampshire, the second state to hold its primaries during the presidential election cycle.

Newsom has positioned himself as one of the leaders of Democratic Party messaging, regularly picking public fights with Trump, after the 2024 election left Democrats without the control of the White House, Senate or the House. His book tour across the country is the latest experiment in delivering a Democratic message to voters.

While Newsom’s memoir, “Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery,” focuses on his upbringing, struggles with dyslexia and rise through California politics, the book tour has been defined by the undercurrent of political races yet to come.

The bigger scope is intentional, Newsom senior political adviser Lindsey Cobia told POLITICO last month. “This tour is about more than a book,” she said. “It’s about showing up in rural and red communities ignored by leaders in both parties.”

Newsom has faced blowback for some of his comments on the book tour thus far, however. Fox News host Sean Hannity slammed Newsom for his comments to a crowd in Atlanta last month that “I’m like you, I’m no better than you. I’m a 960 SAT guy.” Republican Sen. Tim Scott, who is Black, called his comments patronizing and “ridiculous.”

Newsom fired back at Hannity over the controversy, writing on social media, “You’re going to call me racist for talking about my lifelong struggle with dyslexia? Spare me your fake f—ing outrage, Sean.”

Meanwhile, Newsom has been sharing clips from his book tour across social media, teasing at both the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential election.

“There will not be a fair and free election in the United States of America as we know it, unless we win back the House of Representatives this November,” Newsom told former Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison in South Carolina last month.

Trump “wants to flood the zone, but we are capable of doing much more. And I absolutely do believe the next president, particularly if it’s a Democrat, has to prove that as well,” he told a crowd in Nashville.

Newsom’s book presents him as a man who’s overcome struggles, including academic difficulties and the hurdles his single mom faced. He also gives further details into the luxurious aspects of his childhood, including vacationing with the wealthy descendants of the oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, who were friends of his father’s.

In one of the few mentions of Florida in the book, Newsom describes getting custom suits fitted for his “last childhood trip with the Gettys” on their private jet to Spain, describing the formal wear as looking “as if I were about to walk onto the set of Miami Vice.”

Newsom goes on to say his family later returned the pricey suits so his mother could use the credit for their Christmas gifts.

He makes no mention of his COVID-era political rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in the book. DeSantis released his own memoir and launched a book tour before announcing his failed 2024 presidential run. Newsom does mention Trump almost a hundred times.

Florida otherwise gets a pat dismissal in Newsom’s memoir. Late in the book, as he details the emotions after being elected California’s governor seven years ago, he describes California as far more complicated than other large states.

“When it came to governance, California was of a magnitude beyond that of New York, Florida, or Texas,” the book reads, describing the widely varied geography of the state.

And Newsom writes in the prologue that California is a place for “saints and scoundrels” who benefit from the state’s resources and take them elsewhere in the country.

“They tap into our spirit, and hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies, and sometimes they move on to Texas or Florida,” the book reads. “May their landing places greet them with great fanfare, for it is California they take with them.”