Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom conceded Wednesday that his party is facing a “weakness” problem.

Newsom told Politico during an interview at an event in Sacramento, California that the “essence of the challenge to the party is weakness.” The California governor’s comments come amid growing rumors that he is preparing to launch a bid for the presidency in 2028.

Newsom said the Democratic Party’s current struggles were summarized well by former President Bill Clinton after the party was defeated in the 2002 midterms, when Clinton suggested that “uncertain” American voters would choose “strong and wrong” leaders over “weak and right” ones.

“Our party needs to wake up to that,” Newsom told Politico.

Newsom added that members of his party need to do a better job of proving themselves to Americans.

“We have to use every tool at our disposal to not only assert ourselves, but prove ourselves to the American people,” Newsom said during the interview.

Newsom’s comments come after the Democratic Party’s popularity among Americans has plummeted to historic lows in 2025. Some Democrats have called for their party to return to more center-left politics in the wake of the GOP’s wins in the 2024 election cycle.

Democrats lost a huge swath of registered voters between the 2020 and 2024 elections, while Republicans gained voters during the same time period.

Another rumored 2028 presidential hopeful, former Democratic Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, said in May that he thinks the party’s current brand is “weak,” “woke” and “toxic.”

Some early polls have shown Newsom leading former Vice President Kamala Harris in a hypothetical 2028 presidential primary battle featuring both California politicians. A UC Berkeley/Los Angeles Times poll released Tuesday found that about 45% of California’s registered voters said they were “very” or “somewhat” enthusiastic about the prospect of a Newsom White House bid, while just 36% said the same about Harris.

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