Gavin Newsom is having a very good year, online and off

Gavin Newsom is having a banner year.

The California governor, whose raw ambition has long been met with skepticism among many Democrats in Washington’s political circles, has emerged as one of the party’s most formidable Trump antagonists, both in style and substance. This summer, he took a bold political bet by pushing for a partisan ballot measure to redraw California’s congressional districts to oust Republican incumbents. Last week, that gamble paid off convincingly, with Proposition 50 winning over 60% of the vote. 

This year’s fight over Prop 50 demonstrated that Newsom can deliver tangible political wins for Democrats at a time when they watch the Trump administration dismantle their policy agenda on a daily basis. Now, with a massive influx of new followers, donors, and media accolades, he is well-positioned to reach new heights as his team slowly plots towards a potential 2028 presidential run.

Look no further than the Governor’s social media operation, where his digital reach has exploded in 2025. Since January, his owned audience grew from 3.3 million followers and subscribers to more than 13.3 million across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, not to mention another 5 million+ total followers on text-driven platforms like X, Threads, and Bluesky. His online follower growth this year has outpaced that of every other Democratic politician in America, including high-profile progressive stars such as New York Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

And it's worth mentioning that even on TikTok, Newsom’s owned content has received more views and engagement than that of Mamdani, who has been widely heralded as a social media savant. 

The vast majority of Newsom’s surge in online growth and engagement began around a pivotal moment in early June, when Donald Trump sent troops to Los Angeles to stoke violent confrontations with anti-ICE protesters. In response to Trump’s move, Newsom stood firm, daring administration officials to arrest him during a viral television appearance. 

“I remember the actual moment that it happened,” said Jack Cocchiarella, a progressive YouTuber who has had Newsom on his show. “I think it went out [on MSNBC] at 11pm and I posted a video about it around midnight, and immediately it just exploded. It had like 150,000 views in the first hour. By the time I woke up, It had received 700,000 more views from overnight. Then, it was like, anything that you do with Newsom is guaranteed to get at least 200,000 views.”

The Governor’s team acted quickly to capitalize on the fight between Newsom and Trump. That same week, Newsom appeared on 7 different podcasts and YouTube shows, from Meidas Touch and Brian Tyler Cohen to The New York Times’ The Daily and Isaac Roschell. 

Just a few weeks later, Texas Republicans announced they would launch an unprecedented congressional redistricting effort. By August, Newsom and his advisers had hatched a plan to counter Republican election-rigging and the rest is history. “[The redistricting situation] wasn’t a play that we had run before as a party,” said Alaina Haworth, a member of the Bearstar Strategies team that led paid media and messaging on Newsom’s Proposition 50 campaign. “Newsom could have just gone on a listening tour, or he could have decried how unfair the Republicans were being in an op-ed, but instead, there was a real creative solution put forward very quickly. And it paid off."

Along the way, the Governor’s increase in online clout and attention has also translated into grassroots fundraising success, with his redistricting campaign bringing in over 100,000 new small-dollar donors throughout the fall, many of whom are outside California. His digital team was so successful, raising $38 million in online small-dollar donations over a ten-week period, that they sent an email to supporters more than a week out from Election Day telling them to stop donating.

“Any success Governor Newsom enjoys with small-dollar donors and volunteers is purely a demonstration of support for his work and leadership on this issue and others,” Tim Tagaris, one of Newsom’s chief online fundraisers, told POLITICO. “That’s the magic trick. Leadership gets rewarded.”

After their party’s 2024 election loss, Democrats widely acknowledged that they needed some sort of media magic tricks to compete with MAGA for attention in the feeds of voters. Should Democrats go on more podcasts? Should they be flooding the zone on TikTok? What about engaging with progressive media and social media influencers? Should they do something with streamers? For Newsom and his team, the answer has always been, “Yes.”

More than most politicians on his side of the aisle, Newsom seems to have studied those post-election hot takes closely and has checked all the tactical boxes he can. He has made appearances on more than 30 podcasts and YouTube shows this year, and has collaborated with dozens of social media creators for short-form content. Last month, he joined a Twitch stream, answering political questions as a streamer named ConnorEatsPants played Fortnite; days later, he attended TwitchCon, the popular streaming platform’s annual convention. 

In February, he even launched his own podcast, This is Gavin Newsom, and received a bit of friendly fire for his interest in sparring with right-wing voices. But Newsom’s foray into podcasting has defied those critics and bucked industry trends: his podcast now draws hundreds of thousands of downloads a month and has become a useful platform for connecting with new audiences. 

Taken together, Newsom’s rise is more than just a combination of viral moments and digital savvy, it’s another sign that Democratic audiences are searching for leaders who can combine style and substance. In a political era when online attention is currency and authenticity is a rare commodity, Newsom has managed to leverage both to fight back against Trump. 

"What’s really resonated with voters and donors—we’ve seen this in polls, in comments on his social media posts, and in our ad testing—was people just saying: “I’m glad he’s fighting back and trying something new,” said Haworth. “When people are excited about the substance of what you’re doing, they’re more likely to engage with you and your campaign, plain and simple."