Newsom: Senate Democrats risk squandering Election Day momentum in shutdown deal
The Democratic Party “rolled over” in Sunday’s deliberations to reopen the federal government, less than a week after claiming landslide victories on Election Day, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The governor spoke Monday at a global investors summit in Sao Paulo before decamping to Belém, Brazil, for COP30, the annual global climate conference. Late Sunday, the U.S. Senate announced it had opened a path to reopen the federal government in a deal that did not include subsidies for Medicare provisions that had led Democrats to walk out for 40 days.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Newsom denounced the deal as insufficient, which was brokered by Republicans with support from 8 moderate Democrats. It must pass the House to end the shutdown.
“I thought our immune system was woken up last Tuesday with the American elections,” Newsom said, referring to Democrats’ authoritative wins in New York City, Virginia and New Jersey.
“I worry now, though, that sounds like some of my colleagues and friends in the United States Senate, some of my Democratic colleagues, just decided that we’re playing by the old set of rules, not the new set of rules, and may have rolled over a little bit.”
The governor, a potential 2028 presidential contender, has been burnishing his national image after winning a decisive victory last week with his Proposition 50 campaign, which redrew California’s congressional districts to eke out another five Democratic House seats. Before launching the Yes on 50 campaign, he had been one of the most vocal Democrats calling for an interparty reckoning over their “toxic brand” and need for a counteroffensive against Trump in the wake of the 2024 election.
Newsom has since taken a victory lap in the media and urged other blue states to follow California’s lead and offset potential Republican redistrictings in Indiana, Florida, Missouri and North Carolina.
“They’re (Republicans) consolidating power,” he told CNN during an interview that aired Sunday. “You can’t unilaterally disarm as other people are not playing by the rules. ... What happened on Tuesday represents a new moment of clarity, conviction, purpose, energy on our toes, not on our heels, a resurgent Democratic Party.”
During his Sao Paulo fireside chat with Milken Institute chief executive Richard Ditizio, Newsom doubled down on previous remarks he made about “supine” congressional Republicans greenlighting much of President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda, and their support for other legally dubious executive actions like sending the National Guard to liberal cities.
“It’s not exaggerated, (it’s) sanctioned by the United States Supreme Court, a supine Congress, a supine Supreme Court, maybe even a supine Senate, that includes some Democrats,” he said. “I just feel this is an existential moment. I really do.”
Before flying to South America over the weekend, Newsom stopped in Texas to speak to supporters at a Houston rally. There, Texas Rep. Al Green introduced him as the “future president of the United States of America.”
“Eat your heart out, Greg Abbott,” Newsom said, referring to the Texas governor who ordered his state Legislature to redistrict at Trump’s urging.
On Sunday, his campaign posted a 20-second sizzle reel thanking voters set to the tune of “The Largest” by Texas country rapper BigXthaPlug, who ironically endorsed President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
