Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) is the leader of one of the most Democratic states in the country, known for leading the way in progressive causes, but he has made several moves that deviate from the Golden State’s norm.
The California governor has notably shifted to the middle on some issues, pushing back on the left wing of the California Democratic Party as rumors persist that he will make a run for president in the future. While Newsom has been vocally insistent that he will not run for the White House in 2024 and is supporting President Joe Biden for reelection, his recent actions have continued to fuel speculation. Here are some of the ways Newsom has moderated recently.
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Vetoes of Democratic bills
After this year’s legislative session, Newsom vetoed several bills championed by the left flank of the California Democratic Party. With a Democratic supermajority in both chambers, the governor and the legislature tend to be on the same page frequently, but Newsom enacted several high-profile vetos earlier this year.
Newsom vetoed a bill in September that would have required judges to consider whether a parent would “affirm” a child’s gender identity when deciding custody cases in the Golden State. He said he appreciated the “passion and values” behind the bill but cautioned against dictating specific legal standards.
“That said, I urge caution when the Executive and Legislative branches of state government attempt to dictate — in prescriptive terms that single out one characteristic — legal standards for the Judicial branch to apply,” Newsom said in his veto explanation.
The move was out of step with his typical liberal record on transgender issues and came amid a flurry of vetoes that saw Newsom take a more moderate stance on several matters. He also vetoed a bill that would have banned discrimination based on caste, a form of descent-based discrimination, by arguing the legislation was redundant considering California’s in-place anti-discrimination laws.
“In California, we believe everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, no matter who they are, where they come from, who they love, or where they live,” Newsom said in his explanation of the veto. “That is why California already prohibits discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other characteristics, and state law specifies that these civil rights protections shall be liberally construed. Because discrimination based on caste is already prohibited under these existing categories, this bill is unnecessary.”
Other bills Newsom vetoed earlier this year included legislation putting a statewide cap on insulin prices, a bill that would have required public high schools to make condoms freely available, legislation that would have eased restrictions on Naloxone, and a bill that would have allowed cannabis retailers to have food and alcoholic beverage licenses.
International trip to Israel
Newsom’s trip to Israel and support of the Jewish state has been at odds with the most left flank of his party. While the far Left of his party has been deeply critical of Israel, calling the war an “ethnic cleansing,” he declared early on in the war that he and the Golden State stand with Israel.
During his trip to Israel in October, he reaffirmed his stance and visited with those injured in the conflict at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. He called the trip “limited in scope” and joked that he wished he was president so he “could start doing all those things” concerning what he was able to do during his visit.
He said the visit allowed him to understand “at a deeper emotional level” and talked about the horrors he saw concerning the war.
“The worst part about it — the actual video, I saw heads, beheaded people, their bodies, lay there, dead. To see someone’s eyes and mouth being poked to see if they were alive, to find out they were alive after being shot on the ground,” Newsom said in October, per Politico. “It connects to an understanding of the emotion of the Israelis about the atrocities that occurred, and about the 1,400 lives lost. It’s not intellectual any longer.”
Pushing back on progressive Democrats
While Newsom is constantly calling out Republicans, including his gubernatorial nemesis, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), the governor of the Golden State has also pushed back on Democrats on matters including the war in Israel and homelessness.
Newsom called out pro-Palestinian activists who attacked an effort by the Oakland City Council to include language condemning Hamas in a resolution calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. He plainly declared in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “Hamas is a terrorist organization.”
He has also blamed left-wing judges and advocates for kneecapping the Golden State’s efforts to combat the homelessness crisis in the state. Newsom railed against an order by a judge blocking an effort by San Francisco officials to clean up encampments in the city.
“The San Francisco order, it’s preposterous, and it’s inhumane,” Newsom told the San Francisco Chronicle in August. “It’s incredibly frustrating.”
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While rumors of a future presidential run have dominated talk around Newsom’s recent moves, the Golden State governor did face a recall effort in September 2021 after a bruising coronavirus pandemic response and may have seen the effort as a warning.
Newsom was reelected in 2022 by nearly 20%, a smaller margin than his initial gubernatorial victory in 2018, but still a landslide. His term ends in January 2027, giving him plenty of time to launch a bid for a 2028 White House bid.
