PROGRESSIVE SQUEEZE — Two different San Francisco Democrats — Gavin Newsom and Scott Wiener — have found themselves in a similar bind in recent days: Running afoul of newly-potent progressive litmus tests.
For Wiener, the clash played out in volatile public fashion, with activists accusing him of not sufficiently condemning Israel’s war in Gaza.
Newsom, meanwhile, has been trying to execute a high-wire act — opposing a California ballot initiative to impose a one-time wealth tax, while promoting his own plan for a national tax on billionaires. As Melanie and Jeremy B. White reported, the staunchest pro-wealth tax progressives aren’t buying it, dismissing his counteroffer as running cover for the rich.
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Casting Newsom and Wiener as crypto-Republicans may seem bizarre to most people who see the governor and state senator regularly portrayed in conservative media as the personification of California radicalism. In truth, both men are — by San Francisco standards — moderates and have long been eyed suspiciously by those further to the left.
“I’m a guy, remember, who ran against the Green Party as mayor,” Newsom told Playbook, namechecking his frequent foes on the left flank of San Francisco politics. “Former Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, Supervisor Chris Daly — all of this is so familiar to me.”
But the reasons for these latest ruptures reveal a lot about the new battle lines being drawn in the Democratic Party. In Wiener’s case, it’s the debate over U.S. support for Israel which, in a few short years, has become a purity test for much of the party’s base — so much so that, in Weiner’s case, his stance on Gaza was enough to make the ardently pro-transgender rights legislator unwelcome at the Trans March.
Wiener, who is running against SF Supervisor Connie Chan in the race to succeed Nancy Pelosi, is used to being pummeled with incoming from both the left and the right. He has said that San Francisco’s sharp-elbowed political world requires a thick skin, whether that’s taking on a dedicated local band of public nudists or withstanding online invective from the right calling him a pedophile.
The weekend fracas hit a particular nerve; a video of activists surrounding and screaming at Wiener until the lawmaker left the event went mega-viral, with the clip getting at least 11 million views. A number of politicians — including state Senate leader Monique Limón, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and even newly-minted Republican Rep. James Gallagher — all came to Wiener’s defense and condemned the activists.
For Newsom, the issue of taxing billionaires has become a symbol of the left’s growing demands for aggressive economic populism.
“What you’re seeing across the country is a grassroots uprising by Democrats against leaders who for too long have stood with the interests of wealthy and powerful people over the needs of wealthy people,” said Jeff Weaver, a former top aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders. “On this one, Gavin Newsom is just on the wrong side.”
The intra-party battle is especially potent after progressives romped to victory in three New York House Democratic primaries last week, fueling fresh questions of whether the party’s agenda is now being set by the Democratic Socialists of America and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. At times throughout Newsom’s tenure, the governor tried to shore up his centrist credentials. But now, with a likely 2028 Democratic presidential primary ahead of him, he is keen to point out the ways he was an early adopter of the progressive policies now championed by the left.
