BENNETTSVILLE, S.C. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday launched a two-day tour of South Carolina, calling on voters across rural areas — some tucked in GOP strongholds — to exercise their “moral authority” in standing up to President Donald Trump and Republicans in next year’s midterm elections.

But more than that, Newsom’s foray into the state, which for years has held one of the earliest voting contests on the Democratic presidential primary calendar, serves as a strong signal that the governor of the most populous state is eyeing a 2028 White House bid.

Newsom spent Tuesday in small towns across northeastern South Carolina, speaking to crowds in coffee shops and small businesses, shaking hands or posing for photos with scores of them. In Florence, he focused his comments on what he said is the need to address the nation’s divisions by being intentional in having conversations with people of diverse viewpoints.

“I think it’s really important for Democrats that we spend time in parts of our states, parts of our country, that frankly, we haven’t spent enough time in, and so that’s why I’m here,” Newsom said.

In Mullins, Newsom arrived at another coffee shop nearly an hour late, a delay attributed to him stopping by an annual gathering of some 2,500 AME bishops. Newsom said the sermon left him “spellbound.”

Later Tuesday afternoon in Bennettsville — where Democratic state Rep. Jason Luck said “no one remembers” the last time even the state’s own governor, let alone one from another state, visited — state Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain thanked Newsom for being “generous with his cash.” It was a nod to a recent fundraising email sent by the governor that Newsom said had raised $160,000 for the South Carolina party.

At each stop, Newsom called on Democrats to show their strength in next year’s midterm elections, a peg for potential national candidates to begin introducing themselves to voters in early primary states such as South Carolina. Increasing Democrats’ numbers in Congress, he argued in Bennettsville, would diminish Trump’s power, allowing Democrats to “leverage this country.”

The investment of time in a state pivotal to picking his party’s presidential nominees, and Newsom’s trajectory across some of its reddest areas, suggest that the term-limited governor is angling to shed his image as a San Francisco liberal and get ahead of what is sure to be a crowded 2028 Democratic primary field.

The visit also will help him make inroads with the diverse Democratic electorate whose buy-in has long been seen as critical for their party’s nominee.