{"id":426659,"date":"2026-08-07T18:44:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T18:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/426659\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T18:44:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T18:44:17","slug":"opinion-which-gavin-newsom-will-voters-see-if-he-runs-for-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/426659\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Which Gavin Newsom will voters see if he runs for president?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a>California Gov. Gavin Newsom gives a thumbs-up to the crowd during a Nov. 8 rally. (Photo by Karen Warren\/Associated Press)<\/p>\n

This commentary\u00a0was originally published by CalMatters.\u00a0Sign up<\/a>\u00a0for their newsletters.<\/p>\n

All politicians are, to some extent, chameleons who align their personas with the prevailing moods of the voting public.<\/p>\n

\"Opinion<\/a><\/p>\n

That can be tricky in an era of extreme political volatility, where what\u2019s popular one day can quickly become radioactive.\u00a0Gavin Newsom<\/a>\u00a0is a case in point.<\/p>\n

As the governor of California edges ever closer to a presidential campaign, he has been adjusting \u2014 or trying to adjust \u2014 his image accordingly. In the 21 months since the last presidential election, Newsom has floated several versions of himself, seeking \u2014\u00a0or so it appears<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 one that can be a winner in 2028.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of Kamala Harris\u2019 loss to Donald Trump, Newsom drifted rightward, foretelling a\u00a0Democratic Party \u201cautopsy\u201d<\/a>\u00a0that it had lost connection with \u201cthe voters of Middle America and the South.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsom\u2019s repositioning was evident four months after the election when he launched his \u201cThis is Gavin Newsom\u201d podcast with right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk as his initial guest. He\u00a0pointedly agreed with Kirk<\/a>\u00a0that transgender women should not be allowed to compete with biological women in sports.<\/p>\n

Newsom alluded to the Trump ad that included a video clip of Harris favoring sex change operations for prison inmates as an example of weaponizing the issue, telling Kirk, \u201cthe issue of fairness is completely legit. So I completely align with you. And we\u2019ve got to own that. We\u2019ve got to acknowledge it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsom\u2019s surprising position drew sharp criticism from transgender rights advocates, but it served to move his image a few ticks to the right.<\/p>\n

Later,\u00a0Newsom again rebuked his party<\/a>\u00a0for disregarding mainstream Americans\u2019 concerns about immigration and inflation and being too sensitive to \u201cwoke culture,\u201d during an appearance at the New York Times DealBook Summit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a broader narrative that we ought to address,\u201d\u00a0Newsom said. \u201cWe have to be more culturally normal. We have to be a little less judgmental.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was then and this is now.<\/p>\n

This year has seen a power struggle between Democratic Party leaders and the party\u2019s uber-progressive wing, after several democratic socialists secured some notable wins. Ever the chameleon, Newsom has been drifting back toward the left, apparently concerned about alienating left-leaning activists.<\/p>\n

In May, at a conference held by the Center for American Progress,\u00a0Newsom announced his political recalculation<\/a>, with other potential presidential candidates\u00a0in attendance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cA year ago my sense was, in this country, that our path back as Democrats \u2026 was through the center,\u201d Newsom said. \u201cIncreasingly, I\u2019d argue, it\u2019s through the fight. And people want fighters. People want people with conviction and clarity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsom went on to lay out an economic agenda that echoed the left wing\u2019s denunciation of billionaires and the corporations they own.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot save democracy unless we democratize the economy,\u201d Newsom said. \u201cThe whole system has to be reimagined.\u201d He called for \u201ca universal basic capital\u201d to funnel profits from\u00a0artificial intelligence<\/a>\u00a0to support displaced workers.<\/p>\n

Newsom\u2019s recent pirouette to the left has one big flaw: During his center-left period, he denounced a ballot measure that would impose a 5% tax on the wealth of California\u2019s billionaires.<\/p>\n

He tried to dissuade its healthcare union-backers from pursuing it. That effort failed and the initiative qualified for the November ballot as\u00a0Proposition 40<\/a>. Newsom couldn\u2019t do a 180-degree flip, so he is trying to mitigate its effect by\u00a0proposing new federal taxes on the wealthy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We still may not be seeing the final version of the man Newsom wants to present during a presidential campaign. A recent\u00a0tell-all article<\/a>\u00a0about his affair with a staffer and wife of a close aide during his time as San Francisco mayor and the recent\u00a0release of Newsom\u2019s tax returns<\/a>\u00a0have provided more grist for the political mill.<\/p>\n

CalMatters<\/a>\u00a0is a nonpartisan and nonprofit news organization bringing Californians stories that probe, explain and explore solutions to quality of life issues while holding our leaders accountable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Want to submit a letter to the editor, guest column or\u00a0opinion\u00a0piece? Find our guidelines and submission form\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California Gov. Gavin Newsom gives a thumbs-up to the crowd during a Nov. 8 rally. (Photo by Karen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[3705,457,4590,6283,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-426659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-campaign","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-politicians","tag-president","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}