Do not make me vote for Gavin Newsom
The consistent failures of the Democratic Party
Photo courtesy of the Lieutenant Governor of California/Wikimedia Commons
Gavin Newsom has recently become a bit of a household name. As we desperately look forward to another election with the ardent hope of someone new, speculation regarding the nominees for each party is inevitable. If you are paying any attention to the names thrown out for potential Democratic candidates, you will know that Newsom, the current governor of California, is regarded by many as the best chance to defeat the opposing Republican candidate in 2028. If you are anything like me, you are already frustrated by the prospect of another decision between the lesser of two evils (admittedly a significant difference with the lows the Republican Party has reached), and irritated by the Democratic Party’s insistence on highlighting unlikeable and problematic candidates before investigating what the people actually want.
Gavin Newsom is not our worst option for 2028, certainly, but neither is he someone for whom I would cast my vote with a smile on my face. His track record is a contentious one, and his widely-lauded charisma is questionable.
Though he has recently changed his tune a bit, I am constantly reminded of his visit to Israel and personal meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu in 2023 following the Oct. 7 attacks, after which the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) posted on X, “Thank you @GavinNewsom for visiting Israel and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our ally.” In a podcast episode with conservative commentator and zionist Ben Shapiro, Newsom refused to call the genocide in Gaza what it is—a genocide—stating that he has “issues” with the proportionality of response, that it was “overwhelming” and the devastation “breaks [his] heart,” but that he will not use that word; he admitted in the same podcast episode that he makes a distinction between his “condemnation of Bibi” and “love for Israel.” In response to podcast host Van Lathan remarking that he would not vote for any politician “that takes $1 from AIPAC,” Newsom floundered, saying absolutely nothing of substance and instead repeating multiple times that it was “interesting” for the host to bring up the pro-Israel lobbyist group.
He recently—as of Feb. 22—attempted to course-correct and asserted that he “never [has] and never will” take money from AIPAC; I hope that is true. The bottom line is that I do not trust him; his ‘charisma’ comes off as insincerity. He has long lasting and transactional connections to big tech companies and billionaires, with The New Yorker additionally observing that “Marc Benioff, the C.E.O. of Salesforce, is a godfather to one of Newsom’s children. Occasionally, the Google co-founder Larry Page crashed in Newsom’s living room during his early days building the company.” According to The New York Times, he has advancedanti-homeless legislation in California, which advocates for unhoused people have identified as from the “same failed playbook” as Trump.
I am hopeful, despite everything, for the 2028 presidential election. I am counting down the days until we can get Trump and his administration out of office. But the Democratic Party cannot make the same mistakes it has been. We all had to watch the painful insistence of the Democratic Party that former president Joe Biden was fit to run again in 2024; as reported by The Guardian, that left Kamala Harris “a mere 107 days between the launch of her campaign and election day.” Democratic voters did not want Biden to run again, and many identified the clear need for him to step down; the pervasive fear in the Democratic Party that losing the incumbent advantage would mean losing the election ultimately led to that same dreaded outcome.
Young, progressive voters are tired of establishment Democrats, who are steeped in corruption and a lack of accountability. As reported by The Guardian, examining the analysis of progressive group RootsAction, “The Democratic party must show voters that it has a spine and can stand up to corporate and big-money interests.” Norman Solomon, the director of RootsAction, remarked, “The solution, much easier said than done, is to have a truly big tent, stop making young people feel unwelcome and, if you’re gonna have a fight club, you need more fight and less club. The message…is you can’t have a truly big tent if the inner circle is perceived, quite correctly, as being pretty much closed.”
We all witnessed the success of young self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race; we witnessed the hope and enthusiasm of New York City voters. We watched as he built a campaign centered around affordability and focused on the urgent concerns of the people. We know that a truly constituent-centered progressive campaign is not inevitably doomed to failure.
As we look forward to the 2028 presidential election, I urge the Democratic Party to take heed of that example; stop thinking in such disturbing pragmatic terms about moderate electability, about race and sex and what they think voters will accept, and instead focus on what the people actually desperately need.