Instantly, Democrats right here felt they have been witnessing a non secular and political revival: After all of the ache and trauma of the 2024 election, they appeared within the presence of an uplifting chief with the savvy to awaken the Democratic grassroots.
“Thank you for suing Trump!” Suzanne La Rochelle, the manager director of the Florence County Democratic social gathering, advised the tall, svelte 57-year-old West Coast politician after he delivered his political sermon.
“This is just the jolt that South Carolina needs,” mentioned Joyce Black, a 63-year-old grant author, pumping her first.
However most individuals believed the governor, who’s mulling over a White Home bid in 2028, was within the Palmetto State to forge connections in an important election state that historically hosts the South’s first presidential main. There are a dozen aggressive Home districts proper now in California, however not a single one is in South Carolina.
“As we go around welcoming these candidates who are running for president, let’s not forget about school boards,” Clyburn mentioned.
“He’s demonstrated that over and over again,” Clyburn mentioned. “I feel good about his chances.”
Simply being a Californian, some argue, is a legal responsibility.
The Golden State boasts the world’s fourth-largest financial system and is a high-tech powerhouse. However as revenue inequality soars together with the price of residing, Republicans paint the state because the poster baby of elite “woke” activism and rail in opposition to the state’s excessive taxes, rampant homelessness and crime.
“Keep your socialist junk in CA!”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks to guests at Awaken Espresso in Mullins, S.C., on July 8, 2025.
(Sam Wolfe/For The Instances)
“We traded… unconstitutional lockdowns and masks for freedom and fresh air,” the registered Republican’s placard mentioned. “High crime, looting & destruction for peace and order.”
“He’s a very, very handsome man,” Harpootlian conceded. “But the party is searching for a left-of-moderate candidate who can articulate blue-collar hopes and desires. I’m not sure that’s him.”
“If he had a track record of solving huge problems like homelessness, or the social safety net, he’d be a more palatable candidate,” he mentioned. “I just think he’s going to have a tough time explaining why there’s so many failures in California.”
“I think one of the big mistakes for any party, but particularly the Democratic Party, is looking for the guy or gal on the white horse to come save the day,” he mentioned.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks with Miko Pickett, entrance, the mayor of Mullins, S.C., whereas strolling downtown on July 8, 2025.
(Sam Wolfe/For The Instances)
“Don’t forget California is a large red state,” he mentioned, noting he represented 6 million Trump voters, greater than the whole inhabitants of South Carolina.
“I just, I tapped out,” he advised the group at the church. “I never thought that would happen. All those years of self-medicating, watching Rachel Maddow with a glass of white wine or a beer. I thought I would never give it up. … The election, you know, it’s a body blow.”
He mentioned Democrats throughout the nation, from California to South Carolina, bore a duty to take motion.
“We’re not bystanders in this world,” he mentioned. “We can shape the future, we have agency. … You could have dialed it in to stay home. You could have given in, given up. You could have fallen right on the cynicism, the negativity, all the anxiety that I’m sure you’re all feeling about this moment.”
“I’m married to a Mexican, so it means a lot,” she advised him.
Her husband was a citizen, Valazquez mentioned, however nonetheless, she was afraid.
“The fact that he is brown makes him a target.”
In March, he infuriated the progressive wing of his social gathering by internet hosting conservatives corresponding to MAGA loyalists Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon on his podcast and breaking away from many Democrats on the difficulty of transgender athletes in ladies’s sports activities.
“My position is I don’t think it’s fair,” he advised reporters Tuesday. “But I also think it’s demeaning to talk down to people and to belittle the trans community. … These people just want to survive and so I hold both things in my hand.”
Because the California chief of the Trump resistance harassed the significance of standing tall and agency and pushing again, he additionally referred to as for extra grace and humility, invoking the phrases of civil rights icon the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
“We’re all, as Dr. King said, bound together by a web of mutuality,” he mentioned in Florence, enjoying to his Deep South viewers. “We’re many parts, as the Bible said, but one body. One part suffers, we all suffer.”
“Let’s not talk down to people,” he advised the group in Chesterfield. “Let’s not talk past people, good people who disagree with us.”
“Amen,” a person mentioned. “That’s right,” a lady murmured.
