Gavin Newsom wants you to believe he's a changed man. Ahead of his inevitable 2028 presidential run, the California governor has spent the past few years selectively walking back positions he once defended without apology. It's not an accident, and it's certainly not contrition. It's strategy to get ahead of the opposition research now, so that when his record inevitably comes up, he can claim he already owned up to it.
Now, I don’t have to tell you that Newsom is a far-left Democrat. He’s spent years building a reputation as one of the most reliably far-left governors in the country. What plays in the deep blue state of California doesn’t exactly help you win a national election, and he knows it. So, he’s been making a few strategic decisions clearly with a presidential run in mind.
In May 2023, he refused to endorse a state reparations task force plan that would have handed eligible black Californians payments of up to $1.2 million each. A solid majority of Americans oppose reparations, and Newsom, whatever else you want to say about him, can read a poll. Four months later, he vetoed AB 957, a bill that would have amended the state Family Code so a parent who wouldn't "affirm" their child's gender identity could lose custody in a family court dispute.
I said at the time that these moves looked like a man positioning himself for a presidential run. Nothing since has proven that wrong.
And now, he’s trying to get ahead of another issue which could tank his presidential campaign: his record on COVID.
During his recent cringy interview with Jake Tapper, Newsom expressed regret over several COVID-era restrictions he imposed. "The idea that we closed beaches was insane in hindsight," he said. Pressed on the state's largest school districts, he conceded that Los Angeles Unified in particular kept classrooms shuttered too long. "Obviously, the schools taking too long... L.A. refused, and I regret that," he said.
Right.
You may recall that Newsom introduced the first statewide stay-at-home order in March 2020 and, using emergency powers, put in place extensive restrictions on businesses and everyday life that continued for over a year. A state-run tier system determined how quickly counties could reopen based on case counts, and most restrictions remained in force until California fully reopened in June 2021. Throughout the 2020-21 school year, in-person classes stayed closed in many places because of the state’s health regulations, even though individual districts still had the power to set their own schedules.
Studies have shown that remote learning had a greater negative impact on students from low-income families and on students with disabilities, a fact which Newsom’s own administration has since admitted. According to the state’s own data, California’s math and reading scores dropped during the pandemic and still haven’t recovered.
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Newsom also revisited his infamous French Laundry dinner, the November 2020 gathering at an exclusive Napa Valley restaurant that he attended for a lobbyist friend's birthday, even as he told ordinary Californians not to socialize for their safety. He called it a "boneheaded decision, just stupid decision."
It’s funny how Democrats think a fake mea culpa is enough to change the past. And let’s face it, none of this is a genuine reckoning. Newsom isn't changing his views because he’s had a change of heart; he’s doing it because he’s calculated that the best way to win the general election in 2028 is to air out his dirty laundry now to make it old news. This strategy will only succeed if voters forget that California was under some of the nation’s strictest lockdown rules for over a year, and its own students fell behind and never fully recovered. Newsom is betting that Americans are gullible enough to accept the rebrand. There’s no doubt about it: he’s not sorry; he’s just running for president.
