California Gov. Gavin Newsom told an undercover journalist that the Democratic Socialists of America will become “a mainstream Democratic movement” by 2028, arguing the current Democratic Party is too broken to save and must be “completely reimagined.”
The remarks came in mid-October at a New Hampshire rally for Stefany Shaheen, where a reporter posing as a supporter asked Newsom where he sees the party heading. The questioner told Newsom that she and other younger voters want more Democratic Socialist policy, not another 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’s term as governor ends this year, and he has spent the fall campaigning for Democrats around the country while insisting he is not laying groundwork for a 2028 presidential bid. In September he told Jake Tapper he would not run if former Vice President Kamala Harris does. Harris, the current front-runner in early 2028 Democratic primary polling, has since stepped up her own public campaigning.
Harris staked out a different position on the DSA last week while in Mississippi. Asked by CNN about the group’s role in the party, she said: “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 put Harris ahead among self-identified Democratic primary voters with 12 percent support, followed by Newsom at 9 percent. Forty-five percent of those polled remain undecided.
