SACRAMENTO, California — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday confirmed he plans to attend the United Nations climate conference in Brazil next week, on the heels of a resounding political victory against President Donald Trump.
The Democrat and likely 2028 White House aspirant will be the highest-profile government representative there from the United States after the Trump administration decided not to send any high-ranking officials. Stepping into the vacuum plays to Newsom’s strengths, especially after his decisive win Tuesday on his congressional redistricting measure vaulted him to the position of the Democrats’ strongest retort to Trump.
Newsom put his trip squarely in that anti-Trump lineage in an interview Wednesday with POLITICO, saying he was making the trip “because of the complete abdication of the Trump administration that is joining the Saudis and Russia and the Gulf states.”
“It’s doubled down on hydrocarbons as the rest of the world is sprinting ahead on low-carbon green growth,” Newsom said. “For me, it is about our economic competitiveness, period, full stop.”
