It turns out that trying to find common ground with Republicans isn’t the best approach for Democrats hoping to win the favor of their colleagues. Not only does it risk coming across as disingenuous or even as betraying your own party, but it also backfires when you’re caught in a lie.
On Thursday evening, California Gov. Gavin Newsom learned this lesson the hard way when CNN called him out for claiming on his political podcast that no one in his office had ever used the word “Latinx.”
In the debut episode of his show, “This is Gavin Newsom,” the governor discussed a range of topics, including what he called the “deeply unfair” nature of transgender high school girls participating in girls’ sports. He also made the bold claim that “not one person” in his office had “ever used the word Latinx.”
Going even further, Newsom then dismissed the term—which is used as a gender-neutral reference to people of Latin American descent—as an “out-of-touch fixation.”
“Where did that even—I just didn’t even know where it came from,” Newsom told his guest, right-wing provocateur Charlie Kirk.
But Newsom’s claim didn’t hold up. As CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski pointed out, at least one person in Newsom’s office had used the term—and that person was Newsom himself.
Whoops.
Newsom’s rightward shift is likely tied to his apparent ambition to run for president in 2028. But in his attempts to court conservatives, he’s revealed a significant vulnerability: His positions are not based on genuine ideological evolution but rather on a willingness to abandon past convictions to cater to whatever seems popular with voters.
But in doing so, Newsom risks alienating his base and undermining his credibility.
CNN’s analysis uncovered several clips from 2020 to 2023 where Newsom used the term “Latinx” in public discussions. He has also used the term in social media posts.
A spokesperson for Newsom didn’t immediately respond to Daily Kos’ request for comment, but Newsom’s office issued a statement to CNN, claiming that Latinx is “not a term that is regularly used by the Administration.”
In other words, Newsom is now backpedaling his earlier statement after being caught in an apparent contradiction.
And Newsom’s use of “Latinx” wasn’t limited to social media either.
CNN highlighted one example where he used the term during a press conference about COVID-19 funding.
“I hope we can really paint a picture in terms of our consciousness of how impactful this has been on the Latinx community,” he said.
In another clip, Newsom criticized Republicans, who he’s been courting lately, for focusing on banning “the word ‘Latinx’ and AP Black history courses” instead of addressing more pressing issues such as gun violence.
“You see there? That’s a lot of use of ‘Latinx’ by him for somebody who said that nobody in his office has ever used that phrase,” Kaczynski said.
Kaczynski also called out Newsom for trying to distance himself from a California law that allows transgender women to take part in women’s sports.
“It turns out in 2014, years before I was governor, there was a law established that established the legal principles that allow trans athletes in women’s sports. But the issue of fairness is completely legit. It is an issue of fairness and I think Democrats have lost that,” Newsom said on his podcast.
However, as Kaczynski pointed out, Newsom was serving as the state’s lieutenant governor in 2014, when he publicly celebrated the law’s passage, including in a post on X.
Newsom’s podcast has been criticized by both the left and the right. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who is also considered a potential Democratic presidential contender in 2028, criticized Newsom for interviewing Steve Bannon on his podcast.
“I think that Governor Newsom bringing on different voices is great; we shouldn’t be afraid to talk and to debate just about anyone. But Steve Bannon espouses hatred and anger, and even at some points violence, and I don’t think we should give him oxygen on any platform, ever, anywhere,” Beshear said at a House Democratic retreat in Virginia.
Meanwhile, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, Republican of Illinois, expressed his surprise at Newsom’s recent right turn.
“I am in shock at the stupidity of Newsom inviting Steve Bannon on his podcast,” he said. “Many of us on the right sacrificed careers to fight Bannon, and Newsom is trying to make a career and a presidential run by building him up.”