The Washington Examiner’s Byron York assessed how Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) is taking a “different” approach from other Democratic lawmakers in reaching out to voters after the 2024 election.
Newsom went viral over the weekend when he argued that the Democratic Party’s brand has become “toxic,” pointing to the party’s low approval rating in recent polling data to back up his argument. Asked about the governor’s assessment of the party, York said that Newsom was “correct” in calling the party’s brand “toxic,” saying the current debate within the party is if it should moderate its views or if it should focus on resisting President Donald Trump “at every turn.”
“Now, right now, the resistance people are winning the argument. They’re making the most noise. They’re getting the most news coverage. But there are Democrats who want to run for office, either in 2026 or 2028, like Gavin Newsom, and they realize they cannot run like Kamala Harris ran,” York, the Washington Examiner’s chief political correspondent, explained on Fox News’s America’s Newsroom. “They can’t run like Joe Biden ran for a little while there. They’ve got to do something different, so that’s the debate that’s going on right now.”
York assessed how the position the Democratic Party is currently in is similar to where the party was in the 1980s when the party lost three presidential elections in a row in 1980, 1984, and 1988 before some Democratic lawmakers decided to “change something.” However, York expressed doubt the party would undergo this “self-examination” and instead would give into the temptation that “the headlines” of bashing the president generate.
Newsom’s analysis that the Democratic brand is “toxic” is the latest in his rebrand, as he made several comments in his new podcast distancing himself from his party’s stances on major problems. Chief among his statements was his argument it was “deeply unfair” for transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports.
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Amid the Democratic Party’s debate on its future, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) has criticized it for becoming too “judgmental” and becoming a body “filled with a dozen litmus tests.” As such, he argued that his party should make its economic beliefs a make-or-break issue and should allow differences on other issues.
One of the Democratic lawmakers who has made headlines for her comments against her Republican colleagues is Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), who drew Trump’s attention and rebuke last week. The president called her “a lowlife” for referring to Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) as “Governor Hot Wheels” and suggested she would never have a leading role within the Democratic Party.