Christine Quinn, the former Democrat speaker of the New York City Council, criticized Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday for being inauthentic as he appears to flip-flop on left-wing issues.
Newsom told Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk on March 6 that men competing in women’s sports is “deeply unfair” and that his party is wildly out of touch on the issue, though his legislative track record would suggest otherwise. Quinn argued that Newsom is “identity shopping” through his sudden change on transgender issues and by not challenging Steve Bannon on the 2020 election claims during the most recent episode of his podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom.”
“You know what voters hate? People who are not authentic,” Quinn said. “Gavin Newsom is identity shopping. He is putting out different positions, flip-flopping on the transgender issue, interviewing Steve Bannon, not challenging that Trump won the [2020] election, and then he’s gonna say what the polls say about it. People hate that! I don’t disagree, we should really look hard at ourselves as Democrats on why we lost, but if you run away from who you are, you are not being introspective, you’re being a coward. He should drill down on who he is, he should be a good governor, put out a good record and that will be compelling.”
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Quinn suggested that Newsom’s flip-flopping on transgender issues and his talks with supporters of President Donald Trump will not help the Democrat Party in future elections, arguing that the party lost in 2024 due to the economy and inflation.
“I don’t think that we Democrats lost because we stood with transgender people,” Quinn continued. “We Democrats lost because we didn’t drill down on the economy and what was hurting people in their pocketbooks. It wasn’t the one issue, it was the lack of having other issues clearly articulated. But again, [Newsom] had a position prior where he stood with the transgender community. He’s never stood with MAGA people before, he’s looking to creating himself into something that he’s not.”
“Shark Tank” co-host Kevin O’Leary then argued that Democrats lost because they nominated former Vice President Kamala Harris to run against Trump, while Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton said Newsom’s communication with MAGA supporters and his attempts to understand their positions is “tactfully smart” for his future political ambitions.
Fred Trump, nephew of President Trump, argued that all Democrats should take issue with Newsom’s mismanagement of the state of California.
“[Newsom] runs a state that is just so mismanaged and if anybody thinks that [him] sitting down with Steve Bannon, who’s not gonna give away the keys to the store in terms of Republican talking points and strategies … He runs a state terribly and that’s an issue for me and again, I think it should be an issue for all Democrats,” Trump said.
Despite his most recent comments on transgenderism, Newsom has supported policies that undermined women’s spaces and expanded access to men who identify as women. The governor signed a law in 2020 that allowed male prisoners to enter women’s prisons and required the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to ask inmates for their preferred pronouns and gender identity.
In 2024, Newsom signed a law to allow teachers and school administrators to keep changes in a student’s gender identity undisclosed from their parents, allow students to use opposite-sex facilities and play on opposite-sex sports teams. Another California law passed in 2023 threatens stores selling children’s items with fines if they do not include a “gender neutral” section.
The governor made California a “sanctuary” for trans-identifying children, allowing them and their families to flee to his state to undergo sex change operations if they are from a state outlawing these procedures for minors.
Newsom received scrutiny for inviting Bannon on his March 12 podcast episode, with former Republican Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger stating he is “shocked by [Newsom’s’] stupidity.”
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