Using public dollars, Gavin Newsom campaigns against JD Vance for 2028

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has discovered a new use for taxpayer dollars: Operating the nation’s most expensive opposition research, campaign headquarters, and meme-making shop, all aimed at one man – Vice President JD Vance.

In recent weeks , Newsom’s official channels – not just his campaign account, and not his PAC, and not his personal hobby account – have been blasting out attack posts on X at a level that crosses the line between governing a 40-million-person state and running a one-man shadow presidential campaign.

WE FOUND JD! pic.twitter.com/FMzhnlZy6i

— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) November 13, 2025

The official @CAgovernor account, funded by taxpayers and staffed by government employees who are supposed to be working for Californians, has now become a relay station, softening the target Newsom sees for his 2028 presidential bid.

California can’t keep the lights on during heat waves, can’t put out wildfires, and can’t open schools on time. But the governor can produce AI memes of  JD Vance talking like a munchkin.

This is the type of dysfunction Alaskans instinctively recoil from, but it’s rapidly becoming normalized on the national stage.

Newsom’s barrage has grown intense throughout 2025. It includes everything from moralist sermons attacking Vance over SNAP policy (“the antithesis of what Jesus preached,” he told millions online) to edited videos mocking Vance’s military positions, to all-caps rants about missiles fired near the I-5 corridor.

One state-funded post accused Vance of being willing to “launch missiles over the highway but not pay for healthcare.” Another demanded Congress investigate Vance for supposedly “condoning calls for gas chambers” and “endorsing rape”- language more suited to a meltdown on The View than an official gubernatorial statement.

This is coming from the same communication shop that also issues wildfire alerts, budget rollouts, and earthquake warnings. One minute they’re reporting on landslides; the next, they’re pushing drag-themed memes of the vice president.

Everyone understands what’s really going on: Newsom is term-limited in 2026. JD Vance is the rising heir of the right. Both men are circling 2028. And Newsom isn’t pretending otherwise.

Under California’s ethics rules, public resources cannot be used for “political purposes.” Yet here we are. Most of these attacks have nothing to do with California’s public interests. They read like focus-grouped jabs crafted to wound a future presidential rival, complete with nicknames, stylized insults, and that familiar Trump-inspired all-caps cadence Newsom seems to enjoy mimicking.

One September video dubbed Vance “JD ‘JUST DANCE’ VANCE.” An October clip framed him as a failed drag performer. A November AI edit called “Fat JD” backfired hilariously, endearing Vance to his followers and sparking a round of dad-bod memes that the internet was only too happy to supply. The Left is still struggling to understand meme-ology.

This is not policymaking. This is campaigning that should raise real ethical concerns, not just for Californians footing the bill but for every American voter. His memes and AI videos have all the hallmarks of a campaign war room.

The irony, of course, is that the more Newsom attacks Vance, the more Vance’s own public image hardens. When Newsom mocked him for running awkwardly through a Disneyland rock path, MAGA-world turned it into a celebration of the “cool dad” vice president trying to keep up with his kids. The next day, Vance’s favorability among Republicans popped several points.

It’s all stupid, exhausting, and yet reflective of our broken political moment: Newsom has taken to the national stage to become the TikTok candidate.

Alaskans tend to have finely tuned radar for political nonsense. We can see when something is a legitimate policy dispute versus when someone is just playing to the cameras. This is the latter.

But buckle up. The 2028 campaign has already begun, years early, with the governor of California turning his official social media office into a meme factory, lobbing taxpayer-funded grenades at the vice president.