Gov. Gavin Newsom

Media Availability

Sun Valley, CA

September 12, 2021

[DEMOCRACY IN ACTION partial transcript...this picks up about midway through]

NEWSOM: ...I wanted to press a sense of urgency to address these vexing issues. And I want folks to know our eye is on that ball. And I see what people see on our streets and sidewalks. I recognize the need to do more and and better on affordability.

I've been here two and a half years. It's not an excuse; the last 18 months has been vexing and trying with all the headwinds on COVID. California has outperformed states like Florida and Texas on health outcomes and economic outcomes. Our economy contracted more modestly than those states, an $80 billion operating surplus and 114,000 jobs created here last month [inaud.]. Good enough never is. We have to address those pre existing issues. I want folks to know, we get that; I get it, and we are going to address those with urgency.

QUESTION: Governor, tactically Democrats did not knock on doors very often in 2020 election, and came to regret it. This is really the first time post-2020 in a COVID climate that there's a race being run. You are knocking on doors, people here are going to knock on doors. What does that mean to the campaign, and to jump off of Major [Garrett]'s question, what is that a lesson for Democrats to take from this race, about how to campaign during COVID?

NEWSOM: What I'm most proud of in this campaign is, we've reached out to all our diverse communities. I was just at a Filipino event, proud to be out in the Valley [inaud.] Latinos. We have, I think, something remarkable and precious and special here in the state of California, and that is being a majority-minority state. We practice pluralism. It's wonderful to hear George Bush, the first Republican I've heard use the word pluralism in a decade. It's wonderful to hear that in his speech. We believe in pluralism. We don't take it for granted. And I think what we're doing in this election is we are galvanizing our diverse communities in a way that Democrats need to do more of. We need to reach out to people in language, we've got to get in the neighborhoods, we've got to knock on doors; we can't take anything for granted. Sometimes we dial in it as Democrats. We kind of take our competitive advantage in some of these blue states for granted, and I think even in California where we have numerical advantages, we recognize in recall those go away. It's all about getting out the vote, making the case anew, not what you've done in the past, but what you're committed to doing for people in the future.

So we're running, this is objectively the largest grassroots campaign that's ever been advanced in California history. We were able to put that together in a matter of months. And I think that's important for Democrats across this country to be reminded of. There's no substitute for that hard work, the ground game. And that ground game by the way includes not just coastal communities; it includes the work we've done in every part of the state: rural California, northern California which doesn't end in San Francisco and Southern California, it doesn't end in L.A.. We've been border to  border, making the case for why this recall needs to be rejected.

QUESTION: President Biden is going to be here tomorrow. Are you going to be with him in Sacramento in addition to Long Beach, and what is your message the President getting face time with him?

NEWSOM: Well I'm blessed. We've had the opportunity to have face time pretty consistently. And the President hasn't been shy to reach out and check in. No one more accessible that I've ever dealt with in elected office, particularly higher office and the presidency.  Twice he's been with Western State Governors talking about the issue of the mega-drought in the West Coast, and wildfires. Tomorrow we'll be talking more about wildfires. We had five asks to the President during our last big meeting. Four of them he's delivered on in a matter of weeks, which is remarkable. We'll be talking about that tomorrow. And then we'll be talking about his agenda in Washington, DC because it very directly affects California and in so many ways it is California's agenda. Look at the $3.5 trillion package. What is fundamental in that package? Climate change, issues related to early childhood education, childcare, [inaud.] community college, check, check, check. That's California's agenda. And so as we go, I think the Biden agenda either gets tailwinds or headwinds. And I think he recognizes that, and I think it's one of the reasons he's out here. I couldn't be more blessed and honored to have President Joe Biden here, not only to have the backs of this campaign [inaud.] but the backs of 40 million Californians.

QUESTION: Governor, you mentioned San Diego, down there yesterday, talked to some voters who expect that you're going to prevail in the recall, but are going to vote yes anyway. One reason  they told me is they thought you were either arrogant or hypocritical. Is there anything in the last two and a half years here in your time as governor that you've learned, either from this recall experience or your own experience that answers that?

NEWSOM: Well, humility. We're tested every single day. I don't know there's a governor in the United States doesn't feel a deep sense of humility over the course the last year and a half. This has tried everybody. There was no playbook, there was no, you know there was no manual that we could pull out. We knew what we knew at the time, and then you had all these new mutations. We had our own two West Coast mutations before this Delta variant became the dominant variant in California. And so humility is, is felt deeply and honestly. As it relates to—

QUESTION: You could have done better?

NEWSOM: Yeah, look, I mean everybody. I don't think there's—I imagine I could ask that of all of us if we look back at our lives. We're all human, and we're subject to reflection. I'm rather consistent in my reflection. I can assure you, when you're raised by a single mom, a teenager and you have foster brothers, and you're working, your mom's working a couple jobs just to make ends meet, doesn't complain or explain and your working and hustling all your life, you learn a lot of humidity and reflection. An so I'm looing to improve every single day, to be more [inaud.] I'm willing to try new things. I'm willing to lead.  I'm willing to you know put the accelerator on, but I'm also willing to acknowledge mistakes. And without exception, hesitation we've acknowledged mistakes—some well known, some that are lesser known. But humility is the word, word of the year I think for every elected official, not just me.

QUESTION: Any other last words?

NEWSOM:  Not my last last words. Just, you know, I say this all the time. It's not just get out to vote. It's an odd thing because usually this is about GOTV, get out the vote, but its turn in the vote.
This has been the easiest election since the last one, where we had an all mail-in ballot, 22 million ballots, self addressed stamped envelopes. All you have to do is go to your mailbox, just vote no and go; don't even consider the other 46 choices.

Larry Elder is extreme, even by extreme standards. He's to the far right, not just to the right of Donald Trump by objective measures across the spectrum. It's rather remarkable. And what would be even more remarkable is that we would put ourselves on a very dangerous course, if we do not overwhelmingly to show up and reject this recall effort. [inaud.]

QUESTION: Effectively that means Donald Trump's on the ballot in your opinion?

NEWSOM: Oh, Trumpism is. Donald Trump was defeated last November, but Trumpism hasn't been defeated, and you're seeing that all across the United States and it's come here to the state of California, the fifth largest economy in the world. And that's, I'm very mindful of that. I mean these guys are all falling over each other to go further right than Donald Trump. It's the Trump bowl every single night; it's like a CPAC, watching some of these Republican governors all of them trying to outdo each other by, by talking down and talking past, denying people rights, denying people their constitutional rights, not just their fundamental rights.

You know it's it's a remarkable moment; we're debating democracy in this country because of Trump and Trumpism. You've got folks on respectfully your former network, this guy Carlson or Tucker, whatever his name is, going in there and talking to authoritarians in Hungary and that's accepted as mainstream.

This is a serious moment in American history, a serious moment, and it's come to California, and that should highlight the seriousness of this. And so I'm resolved not just to defeat this because my name appears on Tuesday's ballot but on behalf of my four kids, my two daughters and half of 40 million Californians, those that even vote yes, that I respect and have an obligation to represent. We're better than this moment. We're better than the last four years. We're better than Trump and Trumpism. Vote no on this recall.