Newsom at Texas rally celebrates Prop. 50 victory, take swipes at Trump

Gov. Gavin Newsom spent the first weekend after his Proposition 50 victory soaking in the adulation of Texas Democrats at a Houston rally and castigating President Trump on a nationwide CNN interview that aired Sunday morning.

Newsom possessed the air of a politician running for president, a possibility the California governor says he is considering — and the location he chose was not happenstance.

At the Houston rally, Newsom accused Trump of pressuring Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to rejigger the state’s congressional districts with the goal of sending more Republicans to Congress, an action that triggered California’s Proposition 50. Newsom successfully pushed for a special election on the ballot measure to counter the efforts in Texas, which the governor said was an attempt by Trump and the Republicans to “rig” the 2026 midterm election.

Cheers erupted from the friendly union-hall crowd when Newsom belittled Trump as an “invasive species” and a “historically unpopular president.”

“On every issue, on the economy, on terrorists, on immigration, on healthcare, [he’s a] historically unpopular president, and he knows it, and he knows it,” Newsom said. “Why else did he make that call to your governor? Why else did he feel the need to rig the election before even one vote was cast? That’s just weakness, weakness masquerading as strength. That’s Donald Trump, and he had a very bad night on Tuesday.”

Newsom was the main political force behind Proposition 50, which California voters overwhelmingly approved in Tuesday’s special election. The statewide ballot measure was an attempt to counter Trump’s push to get Republican-led states, most notably Texas, to redraw their electoral maps to keep Democrats from gaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2026 midterms and upending his agenda. Newsom and California Democrats hope the change will net an additional five Democrats in California’s congressional delegation, canceling out any gains in Texas.

Newsom thanked Texas Democrats for putting up a fight against the redistricting effort in their state, saying it inspired an uprising.

“It’s dawning on people, all across the United States of America, what’s at stake,” Newsom told the crowd. “And you put a stake in the ground. People are showing up. I don’t believe in crowns, thrones. No kings.”

During an interview with CNN news anchor Jake Tapper, which was taped in Houston on Saturday and aired Sunday morning, Newsom said the passage of Proposition 50 represents a turning point for the Democratic Party, which was riddled with self-doubt and infighting after Trump’s presidential victory in 2024.

“What happened on Tuesday represents a new moment, clarity, conviction, purpose, energy on our toes, not on our heels, a resurgent Democratic Party, and it’s a party that understands what’s at stake for our democracy,” Newsom said.

Newsom’s trip to Texas comes as the former San Francisco mayor has been openly flirting with a 2028 run for president. Pressed by Tapper, Newsom said his decision would come after the 2026 midterm elections. Newsom’s second and final term as California governor ends just a couple of months after that election.

Newsom said that, if he did make a run for the White House, “democratizing the economy” would be a guiding issue for him.

“You can’t have 10% of people own two thirds of the wealth in this country,” Newsom told Tapper. “You can’t have that 30-year-old that’s doing worse than his parents’ generation for the first time in U.S. history.”

He criticized Trump for failing to deliver on his campaign promises to make America “wealthier and healthier.”

In July, Newsom flew to South Carolina, a state that traditionally hosts the South’s first presidential primary. He said he wanted to help his party win back the U.S. House of Representatives in 2026. But South Carolina is a solidly conservative state and did not appear to have a single competitive race.

During that trip, South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the highest-ranking Black member of Congress and renowned Democratic kingmaker, told The Times that Newsom would be “a hell of a candidate.” Newsom received similar praise — and encouragement — when he was introduced at the “Take It Back” rally in Houston.

Newsom now heads to Belém, Brazil, where representatives from 200 nations are gathering to kick off the annual United Nations climate policy summit. For Newsom, it’s a golden opportunity to appear on a world stage and sell himself and California as the antidote to Trump and his attacks on climate change policy.

“I’m standing in for my kids and grandkids, for common sense, for our economic future,” Newsom said in the CNN interview. “Climate risk is fundamentally a financial risk and cost of living issue. Ask anyone in places like the coast of New Jersey or down in Florida. Ask folks in Louisiana or in my home state, California.”

The Trump administration this year canceled funding for major clean energy projects such as California’s hydrogen hub and moved to revoke the state’s long-held authority to set stricter vehicle emissions standards than the federal government.