Democratic Party ‘will come around,’ Gavin Newsom says as he votes in California primary

Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was happy to see so many people turning out to vote as he and his wife First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom waited in line Tuesday morning at the California Museum to cast ballots in the state’s primary election.

“It’s an exciting day,” he told reporters after casting his ballot. “California’s finally in play. It matters greatly. Outsized influence.”

In 2016, California’s June primary meant the presidential nominating contests were basically decided before residents went to the polls. This time, the state has an earlier primary and the race for the Democratic nomination is still unsettled, giving Californians a chance to influence the outcome.

Siebel Newsom has endorsed Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, but the governor wouldn’t say for whom he voted.

He said he thinks his voice is better used urging Democrats to come together around the eventual nominee, rather than on picking a candidate at this stage. He said he thinks the party will coalesce around the nominee, noting the Republican party appeared even more divided at this stage during its own nominating contest in 2016.

“It’s miraculous that the Republican Party is so united around Donald Trump after what they went through,” Newsom said. “We’ve got nothing like that … This party will come around I think in remarkable ways around the convention and tonight’s going to be very clarifying.”

He said the shakeup in the Democratic field since Joe Biden’s victory in South Carolina will galvanize more people to vote in California.

“I think it may manifest in the lines you’ll see today and some clarity in terms of people’s desire to vote, the conviction that their vote matters,” he said. “I think it was a good boost more broadly to democracy and more broadly to the Democratic Party.”

Since the South Carolina primary, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar have dropped out of the race and endorsed Biden. Newsom said he talked to some donors in Oakland who were supporting Buttigieg who have since switched their allegiances to Biden, and said the endorsements will net more donations for the former vice president’s campaign.

“By any objective measure, that was a significant boost to the Biden campaign,” Newsom said. “That was about as significant a night that you can have in politics before a major primary.”

This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 12:01 PM.