Gina Raimondo would like to be president, but she won’t run in 2028

PROVIDENCE — Gina M. Raimondo, the former Rhode Island governor and US commerce secretary, said she is no longer considering running for president in 2028.

Read more Democratic group launches ad campaign to help flip control of Congress in midterm elections

Raimondo told veteran political operative David Axelrod in April 2025 that she was weighing a run for the White House, and in January she still wasn’t ruling out a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

But when asked on the Rhode Island Report podcast if she’s considering a presidential bid, Raimondo said, “I don’t think so.”

“I think there are like a dozen other people who are doing that, so I’m going to help whichever one of them emerges,” she said. “Look, I would like the job — I’m not going to lie. But politics is in a crazy place right now. And so I’m just going to let it all unfold.”

Raimondo, who served as the state’s first female governor from 2015 to 2021, was the first guest on the Rhode Island Report in June 2021, and she returned as the podcast hits the five-year mark.

Raimondo declined to name any individuals she’d like to see run for president instead. “I think it’s in the interest of the country just to have a big, open primary,” she said. “It’s still a very, very long time away. I’m confident a number of really good people will throw their hat in the ring.”

She did offer her opinion on what the Democratic Party needs to do to win back the White House. “I think we’ve gotten a little far from the meat and potatoes issues that matter to people in their day-to-day lives,” she said.

The Democratic Party has become “the party of the checklist,” focusing on where people stand on issues such as the environment, abortion rights, or diversity, equity and inclusion, Raimondo said.

All those issues are “very important,” she said. “But instead of being the party of the checklist, we just have to be the party that is obsessed with rebuilding the middle class and making it so that the everyday American can pay their bills and have a decent life and have some sense of security.”

Raimondo, a former venture capitalist, said, “I still don’t think most Democrats are comfortable enough talking about jobs, the economy, business, and I just feel like it’s all we should be talking about pretty much.”

Since leaving the US Commerce Department in January 2025, Raimondo has joined the Council on Foreign Relations as a distinguished fellow, focusing on technology competition with China, semiconductors, and supply chain resiliency.

She has also begun speaking and writing about artificial intelligence.

“I think long-term AI could be a great thing and will create more jobs and also better things — better medicines, etc.,” she said. “But in the short term, I just really worry the rug will be pulled out from a lot of people whose jobs are going to go away. And shame on us as a country if we don’t figure out how to cushion the blow and transition them to the new jobs.”

Business has to be part of the solution, Raimondo said.

“As angry as we might be with the income inequality in this country ― and I am ― I don’t think it’s enough to just beat up on businesses and say that they’re evil,” she said. “I think they need to come to the table and help us figure out: How do we create a transition plan?”

Read more Here are nine underdog teams to root for in the World Cup

Such a plan might include options ranging from incentives to avoid layoffs to retraining to wage subsidies, she said.

Raimondo, who is still a parishioner at St. Raymond’s Roman Catholic Church in Providence, said she read Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, which calls for robust regulation of artificial intelligence and for its developers to work for the common good rather than profit.

“He makes the point that if all AI does is improve efficiency and create more wealth for a small number of people, is that really progress?” she said. “He says it’s not progress — and I agree with him — unless you also have social progress, moral progress, human progress. I think we can have both, but I do think it’s going to require a bunch of changes in our policies.”

As commerce secretary, Raimondo championed the $52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act, aiming to restore domestic semiconductor manufacturing. President Trump has since called the CHIPS Act a “horrible, horrible thing and a waste of taxpayer money.”

Raimondo said, “He obviously doesn’t believe that because he hasn’t changed it at all. Every dollar that we gave to CHIPS companies hasn’t been touched.” She said the only exception was Intel, which Trump said agreed to give the US government a 10 percent stake in its business.

“It’s crazy to me that the party of Ronald Reagan is now in the business of having government owning the means of production,” Raimondo said. “Look in the dictionary — that’s the definition of socialism and communism. So I’m against it.”

Raimondo also has been appointed to the Costco board of directors.

When asked if former Providence mayor Joseph R. Paolino Jr. is going to get a Costco at the Providence Place mall, in which he is an investor, she said, “I don’t know about that, but I know I’m working on it. I think Rhode Islanders would love to have a Costco.”

Raimondo said she plans to move back to Rhode Island from Washington, D.C., “hopefully within the year.”

She also weighed in on “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island‚” Bravo’s hit reality TV show that has raised national awareness about pizza chips.

“Strip pizza and pizza chips are among the two great delicacies in the world,” Raimondo said. “And you can’t buy them anywhere but Rhode Island, as far as I can tell.”

The Rhode Island Report podcast is produced by The Boston Globe Rhode Island. To get the latest episode each week, follow the Rhode Island Report podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcasting platforms, or listen in the player above.

Read more Jonquel Jones honored by Connecticut Sun before Breanna Stewart leads the New York Liberty to a win