SAN ANSELMO, Calif. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is accusing the Democratic Party of not yet performing a thorough autopsy on what went wrong in its devastating loss of the White House and Senate majority in November. 

In an exclusive sit-down interview with The Hill on Monday, Newsom said that if the party wants to find its way back from the wilderness, it has to be willing to look inward at what led to the losses and the failure to win back the House majority.

“We have not done a forensic of what just went wrong, period, full stop,” Newsom said. “I don’t think it, I know it. I mean, to the extent that I’m marginally part of this party, I represent the state larger than 21 state populations combined, and I can assure you there’s not been a party discussion that I’m aware of that has included the state of California.”

Later in the interview, Newsom said he wasn’t sure what the Democratic Party truly represents, who is leading it or where it wants to go.

“I don’t know what the party is,” he said. “I’m still struggling with that.”

Newsom, who is widely seen as a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, also used the interview to argue that his state is actually a microcosm of the rest of the country, and not just the land of Hollywood and Silicon Valley it is sometimes stereotyped as being.

Governing the state, he said, has helped him get a better understanding of different Americas and different voters.

“And I’ll remind you, for those that think California is just a coastal state, we have 150 percent more ag, hunting, forestry jobs than the next state, 150 percent larger. So, you know, you talk about America, we’re just America, only more so,” said the governor, who is term-limited and cannot run for reelection in 2026.

“So, you know, talk about flyover states. My state of mind is deeply entrenched in this rural mindset as I go back over and over and over again in the Central Valley. It’s not helped me electorally, but it certainly helped me sort of create a sort of consciousness around that.”

Newsom said there must be a period of reflection and accountability for the Democratic Party. 

“If you don’t learn the lessons of the past, you will repeat them,” said the governor, expressing some frustration with the lack of introspection by his party.

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

Newsom, who began hosting his “This is Gavin Newsom” podcast earlier this year, has come under scrutiny from some party operatives and voters for hosting conservative activist Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon, a longtime President Trump loyalist, as guests. 

He argued such criticism is shortsighted and will get in the way of the Democratic Party picking itself back up.

“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,” the California governor said. 

Democrats, he said, “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.

The governor said part of the reason he wanted to launch his podcast is to listen to a wide swath 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.” 

During the interview, Newsom was also asked about his thoughts on the electric rallies Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have been holding across the country.

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

At the same time, Newsom cautioned that while the “energy is always” at the progressive wing of the party, he doesn’t think that energy alone can translate into a victory for Democrats during the 2028 presidential race. 

He appeared to express some pessimism that Bay Area progressivism can win an Electoral College victory in 2028.  

“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.

“And you can see a reflectiveness, the crowds are extraordinary, and there’s passion, and people are anxious and scared in a profound way,” he said.

In the interview, Newsom was also asked about the biggest mistake former Vice President Kamala Harris made during the 2024 race. But he said he “would have a difficult time answering that.” 

“Because I think I’d be unfair in answering that,” said Newsom, noting Harris had a very short runway to set up her presidential campaign after former President Biden dropped out of the race in July.

“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.