California Gov. Gavin Newsom, in one of the first episodes of his new podcast featuring conservatives, admitted that his own son is not a fan of the way he’s running the state.
Moreover, the young Newsom fancies Charlie Kirk, who was the governor’s guest in a recent episode of “This is Gavin Newsom,” a show ostensibly meant to prove that the progressive Democrat has crossover appeal. The admission came while Newsom was asking Kirk what advice he’d give the Democratic Party about rebranding itself following a devastating election season.
“‘What time’s Charlie gonna be here? What time?’” Newsom said, imitating his 13-year-old son, “And I’m like, ‘dude, you’re in school tomorrow.’”
The excitement about Kirk’s visit led Newsom’s son to mount a last-minute plea to his dad for a day off from school to watch the interview.
“Did you let him take off school?” Kirk asked.
“No, of course not!” Newsom said with a smile.
“Well you canceled school for like two years, what’s one [day]?” Kirk joked, referencing Newsom’s significant lockdown measures and remote school policies during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Watch:
Gavin Newsom says his son wanted to meet Charlie Kirk, but he wouldn’t let him miss school. Kirk replies, “Well, you cancelled school for like two years—what’s one day going to do?”
Newsom just laughs.
That laugh means, “My kid went to private schools that stayed open while I… pic.twitter.com/UUY57056PN
— Laura Powell (@LauraPowellEsq) March 6, 2025
With uncharacteristic deference, Newsom marvels at how Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, managed to galvanize millions of young voters to support President Donald Trump in record numbers.
“I love watching your TikTok, which is next level,” he said. Kirk brought up the lack of social media strength by Democrats.
“I mean, there’s no opposition, no activist spark. You guys are posting these cringe videos on social media-”
“What are the videos? What are the ones that are most cringy?” Newsom asked.
“I don’t know, this harmonious thing of, like, 22 senators all saying the same thing… Go ahead. Go do more of that,” Kirk quipped.
“What do you do? Seriously, Charlie Kirk, give us some advice,” Newsom said.
“Get better ideas, governor,” Kirk responded.
To win over young people, he went on, the appeal was simple: Democrats have taken the demographic for granted for decades, and when confronted with an alternative, Trump could likely peel away millions of votes. He ended up winning the 18-29 voting demographic over former Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Right around, I’d say 2021, we had a goal: could we move the youth vote 10 points over 10 years?” Kirk said. “Because our whole hypothesis was – and we did this alongside President Trump and his great team – was that this demographic is disproportionately to the Democrat side. We believe Democrats were taking them for granted. We think that your side had no message whatsoever and an ideological monopoly. We saw some of the fault lines there.”
