California Gov. Gavin Newsom seemed stumped in a new interview about the state of the Democratic Party.

‘I don’t know what the party is,’ he said in a sit-down with The Hill’s Amie Parnes. ‘I’m still struggling with that.’

The candid answer comes as Newsom said the party hasn’t done enough self-reflection about what happened last year.

‘We haven’t investigated what exactly went wrong, period,’ Newsom stated. ‘I don’t just think so, I know it. I represent a state larger than 21 state populations combined, and I can confirm that the state of California has not been part of any party discussions as far as I am aware.’

Parnes and her colleague, NBC’s Jonathan Allen, revealed in their latest book called Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House some astonishing details about President Joe Biden’s downfall – details that even some party leaders were oblivious to.

Biden’s sudden departure from the presidential race in July didn’t allow Vice President Kamala Harris sufficient time to establish herself, resulting in her losing all seven swing states to President Donald Trump.

‘If you don’t learn the lessons of the past, you will repeat them,’ Newsom said. 

‘The fact that we’re not even stress-testing what the hell just happened and we’re having an honest forensic conversation,’ he added.

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom seemed stumped in a new interview with the Hill newspaper’s Amie Parnes about the state of his party

Newsom wasn’t highly critical of fellow Californian and former Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris 

At the same time, he wasn’t highly critical of Harris, a fellow Californian.

Asked what she did wrong, Newsom answered he ‘would have a difficult time answering that.’ 

‘Because I think I’d be unfair in answering that,’ he said, pointing to the very short runway Harris was given after Biden dropped out.

We’re all geniuses, not just experts in hindsight. And I thought they ran a remarkably effective 107-day campaign, and all her strengths were there,’ he said. 

Now in the Trump era, he pushed back on criticism he received from some voices on the left about giving MAGA personalities, Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon, a platform by having them on his This is Gavin Newsom podcast.  

‘The reaction when I had Charlie Kirk and Bannon on was exactly to me Exhibit A of what I feel is wrong right now with my party: an unwillingness to even engage in platform, to listen,’ Newsom complained.

He said that Democrats ‘wanted it to be a debate, take the guy down as opposed to, these two voices had a disproportionate impact on the voice you’re hearing every single day, in the megaphone in 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.’

‘So maybe we should pay attention and at least express a desire to absorb and learn from what they’re doing and how successful they’ve been,’ Newsom added.

Newsom applauded the efforts of progressives, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (left) and Sen. Bernie Sanders, for exciting part of the base – though didn’t think someone cut from their cloth was the solution for the Democrats in 2028 

He explained that he launched the podcast to listen to a wide range of voices across the political spectrum. 

‘And so … I’m testing that,’ Newsom said. ‘At the same time, I’m being tested by it, because the reaction has been a little more bumpy than I even anticipated.’ 

While he was down on the party, he did applaud the efforts of two of its progressive stars – Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – who are rallying some of the base with their ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ tour.

‘It’s great. It meets the moment. It meets the zeitgeist, the energy,’ the governor said. ‘It’s what people want.’ 

That being said, he noted that the ‘energy is always’ coming from the progressive wing.

In both the 2016 and 2020 cycles, when Sanders was running in the Democratic primary, he drew much larger crowds than the eventual nominees, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, respectively.

But he cautioned that a far-left candidate may not be what gets the party out of the political wilderness and back into the White House.

‘In the Democratic Party, that’s where the energy is. And I intimately understand that nature-nurture coming from the Bay Area and sort of progressive politics,’ he said. ‘But I don’t know that an electoral victory from a prism of 2028 lies there.’ 

‘I’m not convinced of that … but I admire their willingness to step in the void, to distill a sense of well-being, a spirit, sort of restore a little bit of pride in the Democratic experiment, party. So I do admire that,’ Newsom added. 

During the 2024 campaign, Trump feared that Biden could drop out, which he ultimately did. And it was Newsom that worried him most in terms of a challenger.

But that was before he saw Newsom debate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – who was running against Trump in the GOP primariews – in November 2023. 

‘Ron’s an idiot, he doesn’t have what it takes. But I thought Newsom would be better,’ Trump thought at the time, according to Alex Isenstadt’s book Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power.