Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), who is term limited and cannot run for reelection, is almost certainly running for president in 2028. He's been promoting himself with a new podcast, which includes conservative guests, though some of his responses have come back to haunt him. He's making news in other ways, including via an interview with The Hill on what the Democratic Party needs to do following their losses last November.
There were some devastating points he made as well, as The Hill's write-up highlighted:
SAN ANSELMO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is accusing the Democratic Party of not yet performing a thorough autopsy on what went wrong in its devastating loss of the White House and Senate majority in November.
In an exclusive sit-down interview with The Hill on Monday, Newsom said that if the party wants to find its way back from the wilderness, it has to be willing to look inward at what led to the losses — and the failure to win back the House majority.
“We have not done a forensic of what just went wrong, period, full stop,” Newsom said. “I don’t think it, I know it. I mean, to the extent that I’m marginally part of this party, I represent the state larger than 21 state populations combined, and I can assure you there’s not been a party discussion that I’m aware of that has included the state of California.”
Later in the interview, Newsom said he wasn’t sure what the Democratic Party truly represents, who is leading it or where it wants to go.
“I don’t know what the party is,” he said. “I’m still struggling with that.”
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Newsom said there has to be a period of reflection and accountability for the Democratic Party.
“If you don’t learn the lessons of the past, you will repeat them,” said the governor, expressing some frustration with the lack of introspection by his party.
“The fact that we’re not even stress testing what the hell just happened and we’re having an honest forensic conversation” he said.
Newsom, who began hosting his “This is Gavin Newsom” podcast earlier this year, has come under scrutiny from some party operatives and voters for hosting conservative activist Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon, a longtime President Trump loyalist, as guests.
He argued that criticism is shortsighted and will get in the way of the Democratic Party picking itself back up.
The issue doesn't merely appear to be that the Democratic Party has not had a proper autopsy following their losses last November, which is also on display given how congressional Democrats continue to face record lows in multiple polls, as Townhall has been covering, and with far-left members such as Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) finding themselves in the news, and for reasons that don't help the party. It's also that the party is not involving their own, including a likely 2028 primary candidate for the nomination.
When it comes to the "scrutiny" Newsom has received for having conservative guests on his show, HuffPost sure enough seemed to pick up on that when reporting on his interview with The Hill, as their article phrased it that the governor "has invited far-right figures onto his podcast."
Newsom may govern one of the most blue states, but the country did see a shift to the right everywhere, even in Washington state. The Biden-Harris ticket won California in 2020 with 63.5 percent of the vote, but the Harris-Walz ticket, despite Kamala Harris having served as attorney general of California and a U.S. senator representing the state, only won it with 58.5 percent of the vote.
Far-left members of the party also made their way into the interview, given that Newsom was asked about progressives, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY):
During the interview, Newsom was also asked about his thoughts on the electric rallies Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have been holding across the country.
Not only have Sanders and AOC been going on rally tours, but there's also been chatter that AOC might run for president in 2028 or challenge Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for his seat that same year. A recent Data for Progress poll showed disastrous results for Schumer in a hypothetical Schumer-AOC primary.
Then again, AOC is so far-left, that her candidacy would in a way be welcome for Republicans, especially given the rightward shift this country has experienced.
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