Gavin Newsom Warns: If Democrats Don't Win House In 2026, There Will Be Could No Election In 2028

Forbes Breaking News

At a press briefing on Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) called to respond to possible redistricting in Texas.

Transcript

00:00Gobernador, sus palabras. Gracias.

00:02Thank you, Governor.

00:05In many respects, this is an appropriate place to be with all the noise out there.

00:10Reminds me of all the noise in our politics, all the distractions, the daily discourse,

00:14the weave from one issue to the next issue, a true social post on X,

00:21the intentional nature of the shock and awe that is our body politic today.

00:26And so often we lose sight of what's essential.

00:30So often we lose sight with all those distractions on what matters most.

00:34And it's what matters most that brings us here today.

00:37It's an honor to have the delegation here from Texas,

00:40an honor to have leaders from the Texas delegation representing many of the different caucuses

00:46that we here in California are familiar with,

00:49two of the most diverse states in the world, most diverse democracy.

00:52Texas and California have so much in common.

00:55Of course, our politics is a little different.

00:59And the question I imagine many folks are asking here in California,

01:03what do the politics of Texas have to do with the politics here in California?

01:08The answer is everything.

01:10Everything now is made clear and vivid.

01:14We have an administration that wants to roll back most of the progress of the last half century.

01:19They want to put America in reverse to bring us back to a 1960s, pre-1960s world.

01:25We talked about voting rights, LGBTQ rights.

01:28We talked about the rights of women in the meeting a moment ago.

01:32We talked about everything that's at stake.

01:36Everything is at stake if we're not successful next year in taking back the House of Representatives.

01:41Of course, we want a fair playing field.

01:46We want to play the game on the terms where everybody is playing by the same set of rules.

01:55That's no longer the case.

01:57We have to disenthrall ourselves that that's the case.

02:00Not with Donald Trump, not when he made a call to the governor of Texas and talked about finding five additional seats

02:09so that he can try to hold the line and maintain the majority in the House of Representatives.

02:15The game has changed.

02:17They don't even want to play by the same set of rules.

02:20In fact, they just want to throw the entire board

02:22and they want to throw it all out.

02:29It is a five-alarm fire for democracy in the United States of America.

02:34And so that's why we're here, to have the back not only of those represented from Texas,

02:40but the people of Texas that are struggling and suffering from the same kind of assault

02:45on not just the rule of law, but this assault on democracy that binds us together as a nation.

02:53And so a threat, I think, a threat of injustice anywhere, as Dr. King said,

02:59is a threat of justice everywhere.

03:02And so we feel a connection.

03:05We feel a sense of responsibility.

03:06And we feel it's right to assert ourselves a little bit more moral clarity at this moment,

03:13using not just our moral authority, but using our formal authority.

03:17And considering, as we now have, that there is a chance to ask the voters of the state of California

03:24to reconsider their prior position, I've asked myself that same question

03:31as someone that actively supported independent redistricting

03:36that believes it should be nationalized,

03:38but we have not seen the nationalization of independent redistricting.

03:42Things have changed, so too must we.

03:46And I believe that the people of the state of California understand what's at stake.

03:52If we don't put a stake into the heart of this administration,

03:55there may not be an election in 2028.

03:58That's how strongly I feel about this moment.

04:02And I think millions, hundreds of millions of Americans feel the same.

04:08We take Donald Trump seriously when he talks about the 2028 election.

04:12I mentioned to my friends a moment ago that I got a hat,

04:17a Trump 2028 hat from one of Donald Trump's biggest supporters,

04:23one of his biggest and most influential supporters.

04:26They're not screwing around.

04:29We cannot afford to screw around either.

04:32We have got to fight fire with fire.

04:35And I'll close on that point.

04:37What more evidence do you need in the state of California in the last just six months?

04:41Warrantless raids all across this state.

04:46Conditioning, threatening to condition disaster aid on the basis of politics,

04:51not on the basis of principles and the needs of people.

04:55We've seen these illegal tariffs take shape and impact this state disproportionately more than any other state.

05:04All of this is on the line.

05:07And so that's why we're here drawing not just new lines,

05:11but standing firm and trying to hold the line on democracy, our freedoms, our liberties,

05:18things that we can no longer take for granted.

05:20So I want to just thank all of you.

05:22They all flew out this morning.

05:24They recognized the stakes.

05:26And I'm very honored to have had this opportunity to dialogue, to compare notes,

05:32and to let the folks know in Texas, but also here in California,

05:36this is not an idle threat to our democracy.

05:40This is real.

05:41And we not only have the backs, Texans,

05:43but we may be back to the ballot here in California trying to right this wrong.

05:48With that, answer to that.

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