California Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose term ends later this year, told an attendee at a New Hampshire campaign event in mid-October that he believes the Democratic Socialists of America’s push for sweeping change will become a dominant force within the Democratic Party by 2028.
The comments were captured on video by an undercover journalist at a rally Newsom attended for Stefany Shaheen in New Hampshire. The woman asked Newsom where he saw the Democratic Party heading, telling him she and other younger voters wanted more democratic socialist policy, not another figure like former Vice President Kamala Harris.
“No one is arguing to manage the status quo and fail more efficiently. So I think that the DSA, the energy and the desire and demand for bold change, not incremental change, is very much going to be dominant. I mean, that’s going to be a mainstream Democratic movement. Absolutely. No question about that.”
“You can’t play in the margins anymore. The whole – the system’s broken. It’s completely unbalanced, and we can’t manage the decline. We have to completely reimagine.”
Newsom is spending the fall campaigning for Democratic candidates around the country while continuing to say he has not decided whether to run for president in 2028. In September, he told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he would not run if Harris, currently seen as the front-runner in early polling, entered the race.
Harris has since resumed public campaign appearances after a quieter summer. Speaking in Mississippi last week, she offered a different view of the DSA’s place in the party, telling CNN, “We are, as we say, a big tent, and I don’t think anybody should be kicked out.”
A New York Times poll released Saturday showed Harris leading the 2028 Democratic primary field among self-identified Democratic primary voters with 12 percent support, followed by Newsom at 9 percent. Forty-five percent of respondents remained undecided.
Newsom’s term as California governor ends at the end of this year.
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