California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced that he will abolish all 548 death sentences in the state and convert them to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The move is unprecedented in US history in its scope, as it effectively ends the death sentences of about a quarter of all US death row inmates, two months before the end of Newsom's term. The outgoing governor has said he is morally opposed to the death penalty, and the New York Times noted that it could help him win liberal support in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028.