Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) thinks Democrats need to rein in some of their cultural politics if they want to win over more voters.
“I think there’s a broader narrative that we ought to address,” Newsom said Wednesday at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit. “We have to be more culturally normal. We have to be a little less judgmental.”
The California governor didn’t spell out what he meant by “culturally normal,” but he has recently been a critic of what he calls “woke culture.”
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On the March debut of his podcast, “This Is Gavin Newsom,” he questioned why pronouns have become standard in introductions and mocked the term “Latinx,” despite having used it himself many times in the past.
In that same episode, Newsom said it was “deeply unfair” for trans women and girls to compete in women’s sports, prompting accusations of hypocrisy and political pandering for a politician who once cast himself as an LGBTQ+ rights champion during the fight for marriage equality.
But Newsom also told conference attendees that social issues weren’t the only area where Democrats were out of step with voters, adding that the party had fallen short on addressing concerns about immigration, inflation and its unfaltering support for Israel.
Turning to economic populism at the end of his remarks, the governor said any Democratic “comeback” would depend on offering Americans a “compelling economic vision.”
If “we don’t democratize our economy, we’re not going to save democracy,” Newsom said.