Newsom Reaches Out To California Counties That Flipped To Trump

Some regions "don't feel like they're fully engaged in the prosperity that is the state of California," the governor admitted.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) launched a tour of counties that flipped from blue to red Thursday, saying he’s listening to the economic concerns that drove residents there to vote for President-elect Donald Trump.

There are “certain regions in this state that don’t feel that they’re fully participating in that economic output. They don’t feel like they’re fully engaged in the prosperity that is the state of California,” Newsom said in Fresno County, one of the country’s leading agricultural regions with nearly 2 million acres of farmland.

Despite Fresno County going for the Democratic presidential nominee every year since Barack Obama’s first victory in 2008, President-elect Donald Trump managed to flip the county this year, along with other Central Valley communities that had previously voted for President Joe Biden.

“Some people talk about ― this economy is booming, inflation is cooling, lowest unemployment in our lifetimes, lowest Black unemployment, Hispanic unemployment, lowest unemployment for women, lowest unemployment for people with disabilities,” Newsom continued. “All that may be true, but people don’t feel that way.”

There’s a “lived reality of people feeling on edge, unmoored, uneasy,” said Newsom, who has some not-so-secret presidential aspirations and has emerged as a potential Democratic nominee in 2028.