CNN panelist S.E. Cupp tees off on Gavin Newsom: ‘I don’t like him’

A conservative commentator stunned a CNN panel by issuing a scathing critique of why the Democratic Party should not line up behind California Governor Gavin Newsom for president.

Sarah Elizabeth Cupp, known professionally as S.E. Cupp, told fellow panel members the California governor, who is widely speculated to chase the White House in 2028, is the wrong choice for Democrats.

She highlighted the baggage of leading a state with a terrible reputation.

“I think the Democrats are wrong to wrap their arms around Gavin Newsom,” Cupp told the panel. “I don’t think another California coastal liberal is the savior of their party.”

Cupp was referencing former Vice President Kamala Harris, another Democrat from the Bay Area, who ran for president in 2024 after then-President Joe Biden suddenly dropped out.

Harris herself has refused to rule out another presidential run. She was partly dogged by her ties to the Golden State and her perceived image as a “radical California liberal.”

Cupp suggested the governor would face the same image perceptions that would hurt the party’s chances of success.

Cupp has described herself as a “mainstream conservative” but has criticized President Donald Trump strongly. She voted for Biden, a Democrat, in 2020.

“I think Gavin Newsom’s made a ton of mistakes, and I don’t think California, as economically important as it is, should be a model of how our states should run,” she added.

The governor has brushed off suggestions that California is a poorly run state and has dismissed critics as having “California Derangement Syndrome.”

In many public appearances, he has highlighted California’s dominance in fields like artificial intelligence and agriculture, and his administration is planning a $19 million PR push for the state.

In a recent interview with Politico, Newsom said he even wouldn’t shy away from running on a platform highlighting the state and specifically San Francisco, which has garnered a worse image since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Why would I ever run from such greatness?” he said, despite the interviewer bringing up the city as a “symbol of lefty excess.”

“This city defines so much of what’s great about our state and country,” Newsom went on.

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