Gavin Newsom's communications director mocked Pete Buttigieg's visit to a South Carolina NAACP chapter on social media, and the backlash from fellow Democrats arrived almost immediately.
Izzy Gardon, who runs communications for the California governor, fired off a sarcastic reply after Buttigieg's communications director, Aida Ross, posted a photo of the former Transportation Secretary meeting with the Orangeburg Branch of the NAACP. Ross's post read: "Pete returned to Orangeburg, SC! Great night with the Orangeburg Branch of the NAACP." Gardon's response was pointed: "First time in SC in 3 years? Nice!"
The exchange, first reported by the Daily Mail, may look like a minor social media spat. But it reveals something bigger: the 2028 Democratic presidential primary is already generating friction among would-be contenders and their staff, more than two years before the election.
South Carolina holds the first-in-the-South Democratic primary, making it one of the most important early proving grounds for any candidate hoping to build support among Black voters. Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign struggled to attract Black Democrats, a weakness that helped sink his bid. His visit to Orangeburg signals he knows the problem and wants to fix it before a potential second run.
Buttigieg recently indicated he is "more inclined than not" to run for president again. Newsom, meanwhile, has built a national political profile through his public clashes with Donald Trump, his fundraising network, and what the Daily Mail described as "a highly aggressive political messaging machine", one Gardon helped build.
After the backlash hit, Gardon told the Daily Mail the post came from his personal account. "It was simply my own observation, not a comment on behalf of anyone else," he said. That distinction did not satisfy Democrats who saw the jab as a proxy attack from Newsom's camp.
Jennifer Holdsworth, a Democratic strategist who previously worked for Buttigieg, responded publicly:
"Staffers of potential 2028ers who denigrate other potential 2028ers at this juncture should be embarrassed. They reflect extremely poorly on their principals."
Former Buttigieg staffer Stefan Smith urged restraint in even blunter terms, as Fox News also reported:
"Potential 2028 staffers, huddle up: you do not want to start the fighting now or on this platform. It's too early in the cycle. The longer we play nice (and encourage the principals to play nice) the better it is for everyone."
One social media user put it more directly: "Yo. This isn't the way, my guy. This makes me think less of your boss... if this is what he wants to do at this stage of the game it doesn't bode well for the next year. Negative points to Newsom."
The early positioning matters because the 2028 Democratic field has no clear frontrunner with a lock on the nomination. RealClearPolitics polling puts Vice President Kamala Harris at 37.4 percent, a leading position, but far from dominant. Newsom sits at 16.4 percent. Buttigieg trails at 11.6 percent. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez registers 9.4 percent.
Those numbers explain why Newsom's operation is already drawing contrasts, however clumsily. A governor polling at 16 percent cannot afford to let a rival quietly shore up his biggest weakness, outreach to Black voters in a critical early primary state, without at least trying to undercut the effort. Gardon's post reads less like a casual observation and more like early opposition research delivered through social media.
Newsom has built his national brand through confrontation, not consensus. His media operation has been described as "a highly aggressive political messaging machine." His campaign-style swings through other states have not always landed well with local Democratic leaders, either.
Whether Gardon acted on his own or with a nod from Newsom remains an open question. The governor himself has not commented on the exchange. But a communications director for a sitting governor does not typically freelance attacks on potential presidential rivals without at least an implicit green light from his principal.
Gardon's jab, whatever its motivation, did land on a real vulnerability. Buttigieg's 2020 campaign could not gain traction with Black voters, and South Carolina was the state that exposed the gap most starkly. If Gardon's claim that Buttigieg had not visited the state in three years is accurate, it raises a fair question about how seriously the former Transportation Secretary has been tending to that weakness.
Buttigieg served as President Biden's Transportation Secretary, a high-profile cabinet role that gave him a national platform but limited opportunities for retail politicking in early primary states. His Orangeburg visit suggests he is now shifting into a different mode, one focused on the groundwork a presidential campaign requires.
The broader picture for Democrats is not encouraging. Their potential 2028 field is fragmented, their early frontrunner is a vice president who has struggled with public approval, and their prospective candidates are already sniping at each other through staff proxies. The party's organizational challenges only compound the problem.
Buttigieg, for his part, has not responded publicly to Gardon's post. His communications director's original message about the Orangeburg visit was straightforward and positive, the kind of soft-launch content a potential candidate posts to signal interest without making a formal commitment.
That Newsom's team felt compelled to swat it down says more about the California governor's anxiety than about Buttigieg's readiness. Buttigieg has faced sharper challenges than a sarcastic social media post from a rival's staffer.
Smith's plea for staffers to "play nice" and Holdsworth's warning that such behavior "reflects extremely poorly on their principals" both carry the same subtext: Democrats know their 2028 positioning is already getting messy, and they want to delay the reckoning. The problem is that delay requires discipline, and Gardon's post suggests Newsom's operation does not intend to wait.
Gardon has helped transform Newsom's social media presence into a sharp-edged political tool. That tool is now pointed at fellow Democrats. Internal Democratic tensions have a way of surfacing earlier and more publicly than party leaders would prefer.
For conservative voters watching this unfold, the spectacle is instructive. The same party that lectures the country about unity and collective purpose cannot keep its own prospective presidential campaigns from trading barbs on social media, with the election still more than two years away. If this is how they manage their own ambitions, voters can draw their own conclusions about how they would manage the country.
