Far-left insurgent group’s "energy, desire, demand for bold change" is "going to be dominant."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom gave unvarnished thoughts to an undercover journalist about the future of the Democrat Party recently, and believes the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is “going to be the dominant” force, spotlighting the fissure in the party that is only going to grow heading into the 2028 presidential election.
“I am a younger voter, and a lot of us, we want to see the Democrat Party move forward,” the person in the video obtained exclusively by Townhall said to Newsom. “You know, we don’t want Kamala Harris,” she continued, referring to the failed 2024 presidential candidate and would-be 2028 Newsom rival.
“We want, you know, more, I guess, democratic socialist policies. Where do you see the Democratic Party going?”
“No one is arguing to manage the status quo and fail more efficiently,” Newsom responded.
“So 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,” the California governor said in the video.
“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.”
The exchange took place as Newsom was campaigning for New Hampshire congressional candidate Stefany Shaheen in mid-October.
A New York Times/Siena poll released Saturday shows Newsom trailing Harris among potential 2028 presidential contenders. Harris wins 12 percent, while Newsom is at 9 percent. Pete Buttigieg is at 7 percent. U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has been endorsed previously by the DSA, is at 6 percent. “Don’t know” won 45 percent.
Newsom is undoubtedly attempting to harness, or perhaps head off, the insurgent DSA, as activists are already promoting Ocasio-Cortez as the favored candidate, as evidenced by handouts being distributed to attendees of the recent Socialism Conference:
“DSA for AOC for President of the United States,” the flier reads, directing supporters to dsa4aoc.com, a petition site.
The petition calls the 2028 presidential election “a critical opportunity for democratic socialists and progressives in the United States” and states the DSA’s goals as “an Arms Embargo, push for Medicare For All and a Green New Deal, and start a Third Reconstruction.”
It currently has 1,673 signatures.
In a September appearance on PBS NewsHour, Newsom argued the current Democratic Party is “pretty aligned” with DSA principles.
"If you have these candidates and this platform that is clearly animating the base, energizing turnout, should more of those ideas be worked into the broader Democratic platform?" the host asked Newsom.
"I think they are," Newsom responded. "I mean, we want money out of politics. I’ve been supporting clean money campaigns for decades."
The California governor argued there was no daylight between Democrat leaders and “the ideas” of the DSA.
Newsom told Politico Democrats are a “big-tent party” and that it should not distance itself from far-left insurgent candidates.