Clay Travis wages a $10M bet against Gavin Newsom over California governor's remarks about not having a presidential election in 2028

On September 23, 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. During the show, Newsom said that he was concerned and feared that presidential elections might not even happen in 2028, further calling Donald Trump's administration "authoritarian." Newsom said,

"I fear that we will not have an election in 2028. I really mean that in the core of my soul − unless we wake up to the code red, what's happening in this country, and we wake up soberly to how serious this moment is."

This prompted Clay Travis wage a $10 million bet against Newsom's remarks. Travis appeared on FOX News and responded to Newsom's statements. OutKick founder Clay Travis was heard saying,

"I'll put $10 million of my money up against $10 million of your donor dollars... And guess what — I'll take you out to French Laundry, we'll get a great bottle of wine, maybe a couple to share."

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson also criticized Newsom's remarks and called them "absurd." Jackson further tagged them as "conspiracy theories."

According to reports by USA Today, Gavin Newsom attacked Donald Trump on his policies surrounding the immigration situation across the country. NBC News reported that federal agents had detained a number of immigrants all across the country, including states like Florida.

This issue gained attention lately yet again, after a 73-year-old Sikh woman Harjit Kaur was arrested by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, earlier this month. According to the BBC, this has sparked anger and criticism in the community.

"These are authoritarian actions by an authoritarian government" - Gavin Newsom about Trump's allegedly "authoritarian administration"

According to reports by USA Today, Gavin Newsom has recently made it to the headlines after he signed a certain bill. The bill suggested that the local and federal officials were barred from covering their faces with masks while carrying on operations. According to Newsom, it was very likely for people to resist if they were approached by a bunch of masked people.

Gavin Newsom further said,

"I mean if some guy jumped out of an unmarked car and a van with a mask on and tried to grab me. I mean by definition, you’re going to push back."

The California Governor further added,

"And so these are not just authoritarian tendencies. These are authoritarian actions by an authoritarian government."

Previously, during an August 27 interview with Politico, Newsom stated that he believed that Trump might remain in office even after his tenure gets over.

As of now, the US President has not made any comment on the situation. He, however, has talked about the upcoming presidential elections to be held in 2028. He suggested that he was unlikely to run for a third term, since in the US a President is restricted to only two terms.

A few months back, Donald Trump stated that JD Vance was "most likely" to run for the next term. However, Vance stated that it was too early to make any decision surrounding the 2028 presidential elections.