California Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., just made his worst-ever career move – one that will doom the Democratic Party.
Vice President JD Vance predicted Tuesday night that Democrats will nominate their “dumbest candidate” for the 2028 presidential race.
Vance singled out Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s likely contenders, and said it would guarantee Republican victory.
“Let the dumbest candidate win,” Vance told Fox News host Jesse Watters. He called Harris “not qualified” to become president and described Newsom as “unbelievably corrupt and incompetent.” T
The vice president said his Democratic rivals were “deranged.”
Polls increasingly show Harris and Newsom leading the field for their party’s nomination.
Newsom’s press office quickly fired back on social media, posting a photo of Vance in a yoga pose with the caption “We all know JD copies Daddy.”
Newsom, 57, has built a political career on radical far-Left positions that often exacerbated California’s problems and alienated moderates before suddenly joining the Democratic Party orthodoxy.
After volunteering on Willie Brown’s 1995 San Francisco mayoral campaign, Newsom climbed California’s political ladder, winning his own election as mayor in 2003 at age 37. He gained national attention in 2004 when he ordered the city to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in defiance of California law. Courts later voided the roughly 4,000 marriages.
Newsom was elected lieutenant governor in 2010 after dropping out of the governor’s race when he trailed Jerry Brown by more than 20 points. He won the governorship in 2018 and survived a 2021 recall attempt after he was photographed maskless at an upscale restaurant dinner during his own COVID lockdown orders.
He was reelected in 2022. Newsom told CBS News in October he would give running for president “serious thought” after the 2026 midterms, adding “I’d be lying otherwise.”
Term-limited as governor, he will leave office in January 2027.
Vance also took time to take a shot at Newsom’s strange habit of crossing his legs, which went viral.
Take a look —
🚨 LMFAO! Q: Have you seen Gavin Newsom cross his legs?!
JD VANCE: "My legs don't cross like that! You can interpret that however you want to!"
Omg Gavin is getting CLOWNED 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/UbCEDXJ8TK
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 8, 2026