The national Democrats may finally have found their champion in the culture wars: California Gov. Gavin Newsom. His recently announced appearances in Southern red states, the “Campaign for Democracy” mark a significant tactical turn for Democrats, whose hesitancy to engage on cultural issues has frustrated the governor.
Newsom’s new tactical offensive — most recently an appearance last week in Sarasota, Florida, to highlight conservative efforts to limit education — marks the end of the “When they go low, we go high” brand of politics popularized by former First Lady Michelle Obama during the early days of the Trump era. Democrats believed that the vulgarization of the public square was beneath them, and that mindset was a losing tactic. The political reality is that the high-minded ideal doesn’t work if you allow your opposition to choose the battleground.
Newsom has chosen to launch his national strategy by touring the Deep South and highlighting the progressive case for voting access, antidiscrimination laws, LGBTQ rights and academic freedom — all currently under assault by the modern Republican Party.
