California Gov. Gavin Newsom spoke in Nashville Saturday evening, the first stop of a national book tour ahead of his expected 2028 campaign for president. The event featured a Q&A with Justin Kanew — the founder of progressive media outlet Tennessee Holler — and was presented by Parnassus Books at OZ Arts.
Newsom was first elected to his current seat in 2018 after serving as both California's lieutenant governor and mayor of San Francisco, and is among the Democratic Party's top contenders for the White House. His Nashville appearance will be followed by events in Atlanta, Ga., and Rock Hill, S.C., ahead of the Feb. 24 release of his memoir Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery.
“It's America in reverse right now,” Newsom said. "You’re seeing it not just in Tennessee, you’re seeing it all over the country right now. These guys want to bring us back to a pre-1960s world. You're seeing it — LGBTQ rights, certainly, but women's rights, voting rights, civil rights. They're rewriting history, censoring historical facts. We've never dealt with anything like this in our modern life. It's an extraordinary moment. It's code red.”
Newsom addressed ongoing redistricting battles across the nation, which have seen states like Republican-supermajority Texas and Democratic-supermajority California both redraw their congressional district maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“The president of the United States said he’s ‘entitled’ to five [additional Texas congressional] seats," Newsom said. "[He] tried to rig the midterm election before one vote was cast, and that shouldn't surprise any of you. He tried to light democracy on fire on Jan. 6 — tried to break this country. He continues this moment. We have to be vigilant, and we have to be mindful. We will lose our republic if we don't wake up to what these guys are trying to do in real time.”
When asked by Kanew if he supports the dismantling or reforming of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Newsom issued a long-winded response.
“It must be reformed,” Newsom said. “I know some people do not believe in its fundamental mission. I believe it has an important mission if it provides the kind of public safety, as opposed to needing to have public safety police ICE, as is the case today, but the reforms need to come as the leadership of the Democratic Party is finally waking up.”
Newsom referenced California’s ban on federal agents wearing masks (which has been blocked by the courts) and U.S. Congress withholding funding as examples of how the agency can be forced to reform.
“Not only do I believe in reform — we're advancing reform, we're trying to lead by example, —but the major reform comes from the funding, the leverage they have on the funding, at DHS,” Newsom said. He also called for the resignations of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and U.S. Border Patrol's Greg Bovino.
Trump’s DHS secretary dodges questions on transparency, says Mayor O’Connell ‘doesn’t deserve to be in any office’
“The system fundamentally has to be reformed, and people are demanding with certainty, conviction and speed,” Newsom said, acknowledging that taxing the "superwealthy” is “central to the solution.”
“We have to have a new tax bracket. We have to have a fundamental conversation [about how] this is just not going to work. Pitchforks are coming out. I say businesses as well. Businesses can't survive in a world that's failing. I mean, it's in corporate interests to reconcile this fact, as well. The mindset has to be growth and inclusion, and we failed on the inclusion part.”
In July 2025, Newsom made a surprise appearance at an East Nashtivists meeting. He sparred online with Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn ahead of his Feb. 21 book event, which can be viewed in full online here.
Spare me, Marsha. Tennessee’s violent crime rate is one of the highest in the nation. Californians make more $, live longer, and are overall happier — while you promote policies that have resulted in lawlessness and higher depression rates.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 16, 2026
Time to turn Tennessee blue. https://t.co/aKyi2F51ow
Newsom addressed a litany of personal stories Saturday night, from the loss of his parents to unexpected complications that resulted in his wife receiving a medically induced abortion.
“Had we been in another state when we got to the doctors, they may have told her, ‘Pound sand,’ she may not be here,” he said. Newsom noted ongoing restrictions on abortion and other reproductive health care since the Supreme Court's 2022 reversal on Roe v. Wade.
“I said you want to bring back to a pre-1960s world. Forgive me, I think I may have been wrong. This sounds more like a pre-1860s world, and that’s why we have to fight like hell in statehouses, courthouses, and we need to fight like hell to take back the House of Representatives, the United States Senate, and do the kind of work that you just advocated for across the board, and nationalize this fundamental right to reproductive health care and freedom in this country.”
Newsom said his aggressive tactics are part of a larger strategy to match President Donald Trump’s energy at a time when many voters see the Democratic Party as fundamentally weak.
“This notion of strength, conviction, defining the terms of engagement, getting off our heels [and] on our toes, flooding the zone, defining the narrative, standing strong, being authentic, getting back in the game is foundational to answering the question of how the Democratic Party gets back into the majority,” Newsom said. “But here's the good news: Donald Trump's presidency de facto ends as we know it in November of this year, when Speaker [Hakeem] Jeffries gets the gavel. It does, and that’s gonna happen, and that’s part of the renewal.”
When asked about concerns that the midterm elections could be under assault by Trump — from an FBI raid on a Georgia election office in January to calls for ICE agents to “surround the polls” in November — Newsom called for public action and strength.
“We have to be vigilant. We have to have poll workers out there, have legal strategies out there, we have to flood the zone, we have to show up in record numbers. We have to continue to be vigilant and mindful, and we have to have each other's backs. States are the front lines of these battles.”
