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All politicians are, to some extent, chameleons who align their personas with the prevailing moods of the voting public.
That can be tricky in an era of extreme political volatility, where what’s popular one day can quickly become radioactive. Gavin Newsom is a case in point.
As the governor of California edges ever closer to a presidential campaign, he has been adjusting — or trying to adjust — his image accordingly. In the 21 months since the last presidential election, Newsom has floated several versions of himself, seeking — or so it appears — one that can be a winner in 2028.
In the aftermath of Kamala Harris’ loss to Donald Trump, Newsom drifted rightward, foretelling a Democratic Party “autopsy” that it had lost connection with “the voters of Middle America and the South.”
Newsom’s repositioning was evident four months after the election when he launched his “This is Gavin Newsom” podcast with right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk as his initial guest. He pointedly agreed with Kirk that transgender women should not be allowed to compete with biological women in sports.
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, “the issue of fairness is completely legit. So I completely align with you. And we’ve got to own that. We’ve got to acknowledge it.”
Newsom’s surprising position drew sharp criticism from transgender rights advocates, but it served to move his image a few ticks to the right.
Later, Newsom again rebuked his party for disregarding mainstream Americans’ concerns about immigration and inflation and being too sensitive to “woke culture,” during an appearance at the New York Times DealBook Summit.
“I think there’s a broader narrative that we ought to address,” Newsom said. “We have to be more culturally normal. We have to be a little less judgmental.”
That was then and this is now.
This year has seen a power struggle between Democratic Party leaders and the party’s 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.
In May, at a conference held by the Center for American Progress, Newsom announced his political recalculation, with other potential presidential candidates in attendance.
“A year ago my sense was, in this country, that our path back as Democrats … was through the center,” Newsom said. “Increasingly, I’d argue, it’s through the fight. And people want fighters. People want people with conviction and clarity.”
Newsom went on to lay out an economic agenda that echoed the left wing’s denunciation of billionaires and the corporations they own.
“You cannot save democracy unless we democratize the economy,” Newsom said. “The whole system has to be reimagined.” He called for “a universal basic capital” to funnel profits from artificial intelligence to support displaced workers.
Newsom’s 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’s billionaires.
He tried to dissuade its healthcare union-backers from pursuing it. That effort failed and the initiative qualified for the November ballot as Proposition 40. Newsom couldn’t do a 180-degree flip, so he is trying to mitigate its effect by proposing new federal taxes on the wealthy.
We still may not be seeing the final version of the man Newsom wants to present during a presidential campaign. A recent tell-all article about his affair with a staffer and wife of a close aide during his time as San Francisco mayor and the recent release of Newsom’s tax returns have provided more grist for the political mill.
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