What was Soros up to in Munich?

Alex Soros, heir to his father’s empire, met with some of US President Donald Trump’s leading opponents at the Munich Security Conference. Looking behind the hugs and handshakes, it’s clear that the eye of Soros is fixed on the 2028 election.

Soros’ weekend in Munich was a whirlwind of photo opportunities with NATO leaders, NGO chiefs, and other neoliberals aligned with his family’s causes: EU expansion, open borders, and increased military aid to Ukraine. Among the photos posted on his social media pages, one collection of images stands out: a get-together between Soros, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and Senators Mark Kelly and Chris Murphy.

That these Democrats would meet Soros is no surprise. His family’s Open Society Foundations is the party’s largest donor, funnelling $128 million to Democrat candidates through their Democracy PAC in 2022, and $67.5 million in 2024, on top of donations to left-wing prosecutors and smaller liberal organizations.

However, none of the five Democrats he met in Munich need his money this year. Clinton and Pelosi are retired from politics, Newsom has already served two terms as governor and cannot seek another, and Kelly and Murphy are both safe in the Senate until 2028. It is far more likely that any talk of funding and strategy focused on a far more consequential political battle: the 2028 presidential election.

Eyes on the prize

Newsom and Kelly have both positioned themselves as contenders for the Democratic nomination in 2028. Newsom is widely believed to be the leading candidate, and although he has dodged questions about his presidential ambitions, he has hired a social media team to needle President Donald Trump online, and used his trip to Munich to cement himself as a left-wing ‘Anti-Trump’, going as far as signing a clean energy agreement between California and the UK, and entering a similar partnership agreement with Ukraine.

In a discussion on climate change on Friday, Newsom told European leaders that “he’ll be gone in three years,” referring to Trump. The message was clear: for Europeans hesitant to deal with Trump’s White House, Newsom’s California is an alternate center of power in the US.

Kelly’s trip to Munich also gave him an opportunity to take his message from American cable TV to the world stage. The retired astronaut, who recently urged US troops not to carry out “illegal” orders to strike alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, railed against Trump’s foreign policy, accusing the president of “destroying” NATO and making the US “poorer and less safe.”

Less than a day after meeting Soros, Kelly told the BBC that he would “seriously consider” a run for the presidency. 

Soros’ choice

Newsom and Kelly have both taken money from the Soros family and Democracy PAC before, with George Soros spending $1 million to protect Newsom from a 2021 recall attempt and writing a $10 million check for his California redistricting campaign last year. If successful, the redistricting campaign could push six Republicans out of the House of Representatives.

George Soros, 95, handed over control of his philanthropic empire to his son Alex in 2023. Open Society Foundations has since scaled back its operations in Europe, with Alex telling the Wall Street Journal that he intended to focus primarily on American elections. “As much as I would love to get money out of politics, as long as the other side is doing it, we will have to do it too,” he told the newspaper.

According to Forbes’ most recent figures, Alex Soros controls a $7.5 billion fortune, and spent more than $1 billion on political causes in 2024, making him the US’ fifth-most prolific philanthropist.

Soros has dropped some not-so-subtle hints that he would favor Newsom in a hypothetical 2028 primary. “Great catching up with the real star of the 2026 World Economic Forum, my friend Gavin Newsom,” he wrote on social media after last month’s summit in Davos. “World leaders could take a page out of Newsom’s book. It’s time to stand tall, stand firm, and stand united – before it’s too late.”

Curiously absent from the meeting in Munich was New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a figure Soros described last year as a “great” candidate to lead the Democratic party. Ocasio-Cortez spoke at the Munich Security Forum about the “rise of populism,” but skipped Soros’ get-together. Her absence may reflect a tactical exclusion by Soros: although AOC is arguably the figurehead of the party’s progressive wing, her description on Friday of Israel’s war in Gaza as a “genocide” may have rattled pro-Israel donors.

The bottom line

With more than two years to go until the 2028 election, it remains unclear whether Newsom will even enter the race. If he does, it’s even less clear whether he could win a Democratic primary. Current opinion shows former Vice President Kamala Harris leading in a hypothetical primary with 38% of the vote, followed by Newsom with 13%, and Kelly trailing with 3%.

However, Soros would likely bankroll whatever nominee the Democrats select. Soros donated nearly $3 million to the main super PAC backing former President Joe Biden and Harris in 2024, and his Open Society Foundations have donated $4.5 million to People For the American Way, the organization running Harris’ recently-relaunched ‘Headquarters’ social media account.

For a donor as prolific as Alex Soros, there are no bad outcomes. Every one of the five Democrats he met in Munich, plus Harris, owe their careers to him to some degree. But while any of these candidates would advance his interests domestically, Newsom has demonstrated one critical advantage: he has achieved superstar status on the international stage.

“So glad he’s here calling out world leaders for believing appeasement works when it comes to Trump,” Soros wrote after meeting Newsom in Davos. If there’s a reason Newsom got the hug and everyone else got the handshake, it’s that right now, the governor is Soros’ most promising investment.