Newsom 2028: Hollywood Donors Start Lining Up Behind Expected White House Bid; “He’s A Fighter, That’s What We Need!”

EXCLUSIVE: Later this week, Gavin Newsom will once again command a portion of the national spotlight.

Set as the marquee interview for the New York Times‘ annual DealBook Summit, the California governor is attracting a lot of big league attention of late all across the nation. Back on the West Coast, and in Hollywood in particular, the Donald Trump-battling Newsom is also increasingly viewed as ready for his close-up as a favorite of influential and deep-pocketed industry donors for the 2028 White House race.

“He’s a fighter, that’s what we need!” a top-tier producer, and reliable Dem ATM over the decades, told Deadline of Newsom. “I just wish more Democrats, like Schumer and the leadership (in Congress), would emulate him, not take any sh*t from Trump,” the producer added of Newsom and his Trump 2.0 strategy of throwing punches online and off line at the authoritarian “loser” White House.

With legislation like the January 1 effective ICE unmasking “No Secret Police Act” and his landslide Proposition 50 redistricting victory last month mentioned, admiration for Newsom’s fightin’ ethos is a sentiment echoed throughout town time and time again, we found — and not just by fanboy Bill Maher.

If Newsom does run in ’28, as is widely anticipated and essentially confirmed pre-midterms by the contender himself, the governor clearly has some built in advantages over rivals when it comes to drawing Tinseltown money and high-profile support. Whether that translates into him becoming the new Ed Muskie or the heir to Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and his adopted political father Joe Biden remains TBD, but there are some pretty strong leans towards the latter already.

Certainly, with $313 million being handed out to small screen applicants on November 20, Newsom’s more than doubling of California’s film and TV tax incentive program to $750 million annually earlier this year has deepened the endearment to him in the Hollywood C-suites and among the Guilds. On the other hand, the Bay Area local Newsom isn’t exactly making friends among the Techlords with his social media and AI guardrails efforts.

Still, the donor money is there in SoCal.

Even as Trump endlessly teases a Constitution-busting 2028 run of his own, the fatigue and detachment that followed the debacle of the well-financed 2024 campaign has burnt off under the glare of the MAGA administration’s chaotic and often cruel policies since returning to office. The result is the bandwagon effect that helped boost Clinton and Obama in previous cycles is revving up.

“Enthusiasm by L.A. donors is very strong and very encouraging, big checks are being written,” longtime Democratic insider James Costos insists, with a looming big DNC gathering in the City of Angels later this month. “It was a slow build early on as we recovered from the loss in November, but there has been momentum building, No Kings events, legal wins, the Kimmel effect, resistance growing and it’s turning into clear ways to fight back against the administration’s overreach and organize to win in 2026 and 2028,” the former Barack Obama-era ambassador to Spain and HBO exec says.

To that, despite the sometimes overly bipartisan leans of his podcast that debuted in March with a Charlie Kirk chat, Newsom has substantial industry connections and policies like Prop 50 and the tax credits expansion to draw upon. “You really have to establish those relationships and start working on them,” said Mathew Littman, a political consultant who leads a group of creative professionals engaged in Democratic politics, called The Working Group. “There is no reason to not do that.”

Littman adds: “People are waiting on this thing. I don’t think people are going to immediately jump on any campaign.”

A well-connected producer who has written a lot of checks for a lot of Democrats, including Newsom, over the years admits while the governor is attracting a lot of good reviews, there isn’t “a consensus yet on who the best candidate will be in ’28.” However, in a race where kingpin fundraiser Jeffrey Katzenberg is on an apparent sabbatical right now, another big donor producer also exclaims “if you talk to anyone who really matters, they all want to make sure they are on the Newsom train if it takes off.”

“The mistake would be that somebody says, ‘Well, Gavin already has those relationships,” Littman stresses of the positioning at play for Newsom and other hopefuls this early on, or not. “Everybody wants to find the person they think could win.”

Right now, those Newsom polices and connections are already proving to give the governor a leg up in the so-called “invisible primary,” the period when potential presidential candidates quietly woo supporters and donors and build relationships in anticipation for a post-midterm plunge into the race.

On the flip side, there’s a drawback to entering a primary campaign a year from now as the front runner, as you are also a top target for party rivals. So, while taking swipes at Trump and encouraging more Dems to do so, plus making incursions into red states like Texas and encouraging other blue states to put their own redistricting plans out there like CA’s Prop 50, Newsom does face challenges and potential challengers for a White House bid.

It’s already happening: As Newsom’s bright star rises further, a host of presidential contenders have been making contact with potential donors.

Figures like Kentucky governor Andy Beshear and Maryland governor Wes Moore have made trips to Southern California in recent weeks to break bread with the moneyed crowd and pitch operatives. Even though it is still just under three years away, names like AOC, ex-NOLA Mayor Mitch Landrieu, and even former VP Kamala Harris are hypothetically in the mix too for 2028.

Add to that the significant Dem wins in New Jersey and Virginia’s  gubernatorial elections last month, and self-described Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani’s unconventional campaign to be NYC’s new mayor, put some wind at the previously flailing Democrats’ sails. Plus, in the lead-up to next year’s pivotal midterms for control of Congress, here in California, candidates are still entering the packed race to succeed the term-limited Newsom in Sacramento – which will be a referendum of sorts on the current governor’s rule.

Newsom’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

After Harris’ defeat last year, there is an often stated “concern” among some among of the industry elite that another candidate from California won’t be able to win over middle America and its wall of electoral votes. Additionally, there are those who say traditionally blue California is already in the Democrats’ column and so a smart choice in terms of votes that matter could better come with someone from the battleground states, like Pennsylvania’s ambitious Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Nonetheless, Newsom’s risky move to place Prop. 50 on the ballot and now defend it in the courts against another MAGA action has paid off in spades. Helping to lift the spirits of industry donors, the Prop 50 win, building off a summer doing battle with Trump, has provided Newsom with some actual notches in his belt — and Hollywood loves a winner.

“I’ll admit, I didn’t see it in him, and I’ve met him a number of times, but Newsom has really impressed me the way he’s taken Trump on, the jabs,” an agency exec stated of the governor and his transformation of sorts since initially making peace with a newly inaugurated Trump to secure funding for wildfire relief. “The ICE raids and the National Guard deployment changed everything,” the agency executive noted.

That “changed everything” he refers to is Newsom’s battles in the courts and the court of public opinion over the past summer’s masked raids on L.A.’s undocumented communities as well as Green Card holders and American citizens by the Department of Homeland Security. Within days, Trump ordered California National Guard troops on to the streets of America’s second largest city over the governor’s objections to stamp out anti-ICE protests in DTLA.

Donna Bojarsky, the civic activist and political strategist, says that Newsom “captured the zeitgeist and spirit of voters.” She credits his willingness to take risks, something often in short supply in politics, as well as leadership.”No one wants to really dive into the presidential race yet, but I think people are deeply impressed, and curious to see how the next months go.”

Newsom also is expected to be a part of efforts to boost midterm campaigns, as are other prospective presidential contenders, and Democratic victories next year will truly turn the tables following a disastrous 2024. As Bojarsky described it, party faithful have gone from a period where they were “deeply in mourning,” to now, where “there definitely is a spring in Democrats’ steps that hasn’t been there.”

Pointing at Trump’s cratering poll numbers, one insider played devil’s advocate and insisted it might not actually matter that much who the Democrats run in 2028. In fact, with a nod to Clinton’s ’92 motto “It’s the economy, stupid,” the individual adds it might not matter if it is the then 82-year-old ex-Apprentice host, JD Vance or some other Republican on the ticket on the other side either.

“If the economy continues to sink, it doesn’t matter who MAGA runs, a Dem will win!”