The Race for Democratic Party Leadership: Newsom Leverages His Final Year as Governor to Consolidate the Moderate Electorate

On February 6, 2026, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a $1 billion investment memorandum with UK Secretary of State for Energy Security Ed Miliband on California solar generation and carbon-capture technologies.

The deal is the latest in a series of agreements Newsom has struck with foreign governments, bypassing the foreign-policy priorities of the federal administration.

The leader of the nation’s most populous and highest-GDP state is positioning himself as the de facto leader of the opposition to Donald Trump and laying the groundwork for a 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.