Gavin Newsom says Democrats need to stop looking for a savior on a 'white horse'
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Democrats need to rebuild from "the bottom up" and stop looking for a savior on a "white horse."
SAN ANSELMO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom, widely viewed as a potential contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, had tough words for his own party — "We are as dumb as we want to be," he said — in an exclusive interview Monday with NBC News in this Marin County suburb north of San Francisco.
Democrats have been too focused on the personality of candidates at the top of the ticket, rather than building a platform that is bigger than the nominee and addresses how the party will fight for what voters want, he said.
"We just have to move beyond the guy or gal on the white horse that's going to come save the day — it's exhausting," the second-term chief executive of the nation's most-populous state said. "This party needs to rebuild itself from the bottom up, not top down. We are as dumb as we want to be."
In his nascent quest to help revitalize the Democratic Party, Newsom has been criticized by some progressives for hosting a pair of high-profile allies of President Donald Trump — Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk — on his new podcast, "This is Gavin Newsom." (The writer of this article sat for an interview on the podcast this week.)
In his talk with Kirk, Newsom further infuriated some allies in the LGBTQ community and on the left by announcing that he opposes trans athletes competing in women's and girls' sports. In the 2024 election, Trump weaponized trans issues, including Kamala Harris' past support for taxpayer-funded gender-affirming treatments.
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