California’s role in shaping the fate of the Democratic Party on display

California’s potential to lead a national Democratic comeback was on full display as party leaders from around the country recently gathered in downtown Los Angeles.

So is the party ready to bet on Golden State?

The appearance of former Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Gavin Newsom, the state’s most prominent Democrats, at the Democratic National Committee meeting made clear the danger and promise of California’s call. Harris failed to defeat politically wounded Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race, and Newsom, now among President Trump’s most prominent critics, is seen as one of the top Democratic candidates to replace the Republican president in the White House in 2028.

California policies on divisive issues like providing expanded access to government-funded health care, helping undocumented immigrants, and supporting LGBTQ+ rights consistently serve as a Rorschach test for the nation’s polarized voters, providing comfort to progressives and ammunition for Republican attack ads.

“California is like your cool cousin who comes for the holidays, is engaging and flashy, but can’t fit in with the family year-round,” said Elizabeth Ashford, a veteran Democratic strategist who has worked for former governors. When Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Harris were the state’s attorney general.

In particular, Newsom boasts that California is home to the world’s fourth-largest economy, a billion-dollar agricultural industry, and economic and cultural powerhouses in Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Critics, including Trump, paint the state as a dystopian hellhole; a place filled with homeless encampments and lawlessness, plagued by high taxes and an even higher cost of living.

Only two Californians have been elected president; Republicans Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. But that was generations ago, and Harris and Newsom are considering proposals that would end the decades-long drought in 2028. Both seized the moment by courting party leaders and activists at the Democratic National Committee’s three-day winter meeting, which ends Saturday.

Speaking to committee members and guests Friday, Harris said the party’s victories in state elections across the country in November reflected voters’ uneasiness about the effects of Trump’s policies, particularly affordability and health care costs. However, he argued that “both parties failed to maintain the public’s trust.”

“So as we plan for what comes after this administration, we can’t afford to be nostalgic for what is essentially a flawed status quo and a system that has failed so many of you,” said Harris, who was criticized after the presidential campaign for not focusing enough on kitchen table issues, including the mounting financial hardships facing Americans.

Harris, who declined to run for governor earlier this year, did not address whether she would make another bid for the White House in 2028, but argued that the party needed to introspect about its future.

“We need to answer the question of what comes next for our party and our democracy, and in doing so we must be honest about the fact that, for many, the American dream has become more of a myth than a reality,” he said.

Many of the party leaders who spoke at the meeting focused on California’s possible role in determining control of Congress after voters in November approved Proposition 50, a rare mid-decade redrawing of congressional districts to increase the number of Democrats in the state’s congressional delegation in the 2026 elections.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass addressed the crowd, reminding them that Democrats took back the U.S. House of Representatives during Trump’s first term and predicted the state would be critical in next year’s midterm elections.

Newsom, who championed Prop. 50, basked in his victory as he walked the halls of the hotel at the DNC meeting the day before, stopping every few steps to talk to committee members, shake their hands and take selfies.

“There’s just a sense of optimism here,” Newsom said.

Democratic candidates in New Jersey and Virginia also won their races by significant margins last month; Party leaders say it’s clear signs of voters’ growing dissatisfaction with Trump and Washington’s Republican leadership.

“The party more broadly has rallied and is winning,” Newsom said. “And winning solves a lot of problems.”

Louisiana committee member Katie Darling broke down in tears as she watched her fellow Democrats flock to Newsom.

“He’s trying to bring people together during a really difficult time,” said Darling, who grew up in a Republican family in Sacramento. “He gets a lot of backlash for talking and working with Republicans, but when he does that, I see him talking to my mom and dad, who I love, who I absolutely oppose politically. … I think we need to talk to each other to move the country forward.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks as his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, watches on during an election night rally at the California Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento on Nov. 4, 2025.

(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Darling said she listened to Newsom’s podcast, where his selection of guests, including the late Charlie Kirk, and comments on his show that it was “deeply unfair” for transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports sparked outrage from some on the left.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, another potential 2028 presidential candidate whose family has historically supported Newsom, also reportedly held closed-door meetings on Thursday. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who is also a possible White House candidate, was also in Los Angeles on Thursday, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show and holding meetings.

Corrin Rankin, chair of the California Republican Party, dismissed the DNC meetings in Los Angeles as “anti-Trump hearings” and noted the homeless encampments on Skid Row, just a few blocks from where committee members were meeting.

“We need accountability and solutions that will actually get people off the streets, make communities safer, and make life more affordable,” Rankin said.

Elected officials from around the country are drawn to California as a source of wealthy political donors. The state was the largest contributor to Trump and Harris’ campaign committees during the 2024 presidential contest, contributing nearly a quarter of a billion dollars, according to Open Secrets, a nonpartisan nonprofit that tracks election finances.

While the DNC meeting focused mostly on mundane domestic business, the gathering of party leaders attracted liberal groups looking to raise money and draw attention to their causes.

Actor Jane Fonda and comedian Nikki Glaser headlined an event aimed at raising the minimum wage at the Three Clubs cocktail bar in Hollywood. California already has one of the highest minimum wages in the country; One of the event organizers is campaigning to raise the rate to $30 per hour in some California counties.

“The affordability crisis is pushing millions of Americans to the brink, and no democracy can survive unless people working full time can meet basic needs,” Fonda said before the event. “Increasing wages is one of the most powerful ways to give stability and hope to families.”

But California’s liberal policies are seen as a liability for Democrats elsewhere, where issues like transgender rights and providing health care to undocumented immigrants are frowned upon by some blue-collar workers who once made up the party’s base.

Trump took advantage of this disconnect in the final months of the 2024 presidential contest; campaign has run ads highlighting Harris’ support for transgender rights, including taxpayer-funded gender confirmation surgery for inmates.

“Kamala is for them, President Trump is for you,” the ad read. The ad ran more than 30,000 times in swing states during the fall, primarily during football games and NASCAR races.

“Kamala had 99 problems. California was not one of them,” said John Podesta, a veteran Democratic strategist who served as a senior adviser to former President Biden, an advisor to former President Obama and a White House chief of staff to former President Clinton.

He disputed the suggestion that California would influence Democrats’ chances, whether through its policies or its candidates, and suggested a broader disconnect between the party and its voters.

“The sense that Democrats are losing touch with the middle class and the poor in favor of the cultural elite is a real problem,” Podesta said. “In short, we used to be the party of the factory floor, now we are the party of the faculty lounge. This is not California’s problem. This is an elitist problem.”

While Podesta has not yet endorsed anyone in the 2028 presidential contest, he praised Newsom for his efforts to impeach not only Trump but also “left-wing extremists” within the Democratic party.

The narrative that Californians are out of touch with many Americans has worsened this year during the state’s fights with the Trump administration over immigration, climate change, water and artificial intelligence policy. But Newsom and committee members argued that the state is a bellwether for where the nation will eventually go.

“I’m proud of California. This is a state that’s not just about growth, it’s about inclusion,” the governor said, before ticking off a list of California initiatives, including lower-priced insulin and higher minimum wages. “A lot of the policies coming out of the state of California not only promote the promise, but also support policy direction, which I think is really important for the party.”