Gavin Newsom
40th Governor of California since 2019
Gavin Christopher Newsom (born 10 October 1967) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 40th governor of California since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 49th lieutenant governor of California from 2011 to 2019 and as the 42nd mayor of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011.

Quotes
edit2019
edit- It is called a genocide. That's what it was... No other way to describe it and that's the way it needs to be described in the history books. And so I'm here to say the following: I'm sorry on behalf of the state of California... It's humbling for me, having believed I was educated, to have been so ignorant of our past, to have been so unaware of how ashamed I should be, as a Californian, 5th generation... I'm sorry that we've had generations of your kids and grandkids, your ancestors, that have had to suffer through indignities, lack of capacity, empathy and understanding...
2023
edit- CEO of Target Brian Cornell selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists is a real profile in courage. This isn’t just a couple stores in the South. There is a systematic attack on the gay community happening across the country. Wake up America. This doesn’t stop here. You’re black? You’re Asian? You’re Jewish? You’re a woman? You’re next.
- Quoted in "Newsom knocks Target CEO for pulling LGBTQ merchandise from stores". The Hill. May 24, 2023.
2024
edit- Look, I'm a progressive, but more is not better. Better is better. We need to hold ourselves to higher level of accountability and reforming the Old Mental Health Services act, which is a point of pride in California, but no longer is relevant to the world we're living in.
- "I don't know one state, if DeSantis stuck it out that he can win, not one."
2025
edit- This is about authoritarian tendencies. This is about command and control. This is about power. This is about ego. This is a consistent pattern.
- Comment to MSNBC on 8 June 2025, referring to Donald Trump's decision to federally activate more than 2,000 California Army National Guard personnel and 700 U.S. Marines in response to anti-ICE deportation protests occurring in Los Angeles, California. As quoted in by Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein, "Trump’s troop deployment is a warning sign for what comes next, legal scholars fear", Politico, 9 June 2025
- California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes.
- Statement during a CNN appearance on 10 June 2025, as quoted by Shane Croucher, "Military member joins anti-ICE protest, tells Trump: "We are not pawns"", Newsweek, 11 June 2025
Quotes about Newsom
edit- Trump is not the first president to deploy the military over a governor’s objection. But it’s the first time since 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson ordered troops to protect civil rights protesters in Alabama. President Dwight Eisenhower similarly overrode objections from Arkansas’ governor, deploying troops to help enforce the desegregation of public schools. When presidents view state and local authorities as being ineffective or recalcitrant, those steps may be justified, some experts say. “Usually the President calls out the troops with the cooperation of the governor, which happened in LA itself during the Rodney King riots,” said John Yoo, a legal counselor to President George W. Bush. “But there have been times when governors have been tragically slow, as during Hurricane Katrina, or actually resistant to federal policy, as with desegregation, or, arguably, in this case. “Trump, when speaking about the decision with reporters Sunday, said he warned Newsom a few days earlier of the possibility. “I did call him the other night,” Trump said. “I said you’ve got to take care of this, otherwise I’m sending in the troops.”
Newsom has railed against Trump’s unilateral action, saying it will inflame rather than ease tensions on the streets and that state and local law enforcement were appropriately responding to the unrest outside federal buildings. Newsom got backup from Democratic governors across the country, who signed a letter calling Trump’s National Guard deployment an “alarming abuse of power.”
“The military appears to be clashing with protesters in the streets of our country. That’s not supposed to happen,” said Elizabeth Goitein, a national security law expert at New York University’s Brennan Center. “It’s such a dangerous situation. It’s dangerous for liberty. It’s dangerous for democracy.”- Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein, "Trump’s troop deployment is a warning sign for what comes next, legal scholars fear", Politico, 9 June 2025
- Newsom asked a federal court on Tuesday to block Trump from using the military in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, activists are planning larger demonstrations against Trump and his administration's policies across the country on Saturday to coincide with the president's birthday and a planned military parade through Washington D.C.
- Shane Croucher, "Military member joins anti-ICE protest, tells Trump: "We are not pawns"", Newsweek, 11 June 2025
- WASHINGTON − Progressive firebrand Sen. Bernie Sanders said he believes President Donald Trump is “moving this country rapidly into authoritarianism" after Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to help quell immigration protests in Los Angeles. “This guy wants all of the power. He does not believe in the Constitution. He does not believe in the rule of law. My understanding is that the governor of California, the mayor of the city of Los Angeles did not request the National Guard, but he thinks he has a right to do anything he wants,” Sanders, a Vermont independent, told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”
- Sudiksha Kochi, "Bernie Sanders: Trump moving US 'into authoritarianism' after troops sent to LA", USA Today, 8 June 2025
- The protests come as the Trump administration has taken stronger actions to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants. Demonstrators allege the administration's immigration enforcement has violated civil and human rights. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on June 7 that Trump signed a memo deploying the guardsmen “to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester.” Both California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, however, have criticized the move, saying it would only escalate tensions in the area. “I would say that to a large degree, the future of this country rests with a small number of Republicans in the House and Senate who know better, who do know what the Constitution is about, and it’s high time they stood up for our Constitution and the rule of law,” Sanders said.
- Sudiksha Kochi, "Bernie Sanders: Trump moving US 'into authoritarianism' after troops sent to LA", USA Today, 8 June 2025