Gavin Newsom spent seven years turning California into the most expensive, most unemployed, most failing-school state in America.
Now he's on a book tour telling voters he should run the whole country.
And the person who just destroyed that pitch wasn't Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity – but the last person he ever saw coming.
California Poverty and Unemployment Just Became Newsom's 2028 Problem
On a Thursday episode of Next Question with Katie Couric, the longtime liberal journalist hit Newsom with three numbers he couldn't spin away.
California has the highest poverty rate in the nation – tied with Louisiana.
California has the highest unemployment rate in the nation – 5.5%, nearly a full point above the national average.
And Mississippi schools now outperform California schools for poor kids.
That last one landed like a grenade. A Black fourth grader in Mississippi is 2.5 times more likely to reach reading proficiency than a Black child in California – even though California spends dramatically more per pupil. Nick Kristof of The New York Times confirmed it in a February piece, and Couric read it straight to Newsom's face.
"People see that or hear that or read that," Couric told him, "and they're like, 'No thanks, California. No thanks, Gavin Newsom.'"
Four Minutes of Excuses
Newsom responded for nearly four minutes.
He blamed housing. He blamed Ronald Reagan. He blamed zoning laws and NIMBYism.
He claimed the poverty numbers are "about average" – a creative reinterpretation of "highest in the nation."
He tried to discredit Mississippi's reading scores by suggesting they inflate numbers by holding struggling third graders back. Education researchers have tested that claim and rejected it. California's embarrassment is real regardless of how you measure it.
He then pivoted to a list of radical leftist government programs: community schools, after school for all, summer school for all, free meals, preschool for all, college savings accounts, career accounts, baby bonds.
Seven years of programs. Still last in the nation. Your tax dollars. Their failures.
Newsom has been pitching his book – Young Man in a Hurry – while everyone in the room knows the real product he's selling is a 2028 presidential campaign. His favorable rating sits at 30.4% nationally. Even 59% of California's own voters told pollsters they don't want him running for president.
The California Economy Record He Wants to Bring to the White House
California isn't struggling despite Newsom's policies. It's struggling because of them.
The state lost private sector jobs in 2025 for the first time since COVID – down 31,400 positions while Texas and Florida were adding workers. California ranked 37th nationally in job growth. Economists are warning the trend continues into 2026.
Mississippi is a poor state with a fraction of California's budget. It figured out how to teach children to read. California spent billions more per pupil and still can't match it.
When Katie Couric – a lifelong liberal who spent her career cheerleading for exactly the kind of policies Newsom champions – looks him in the eye and reads him his own state's report card, that's not a conservative attack. That's the people who built this disaster finally admitting what they built.
And now Gavin Newsom wants to take it national.
He wants to stand in front of voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin – states that actually have jobs, schools that work, and people who can afford to live there – and tell them he should run the country.
The highest poverty. The highest unemployment. Schools that lose to Mississippi. That's the Newsom record. That's what he's selling.
Make sure everyone you know understands exactly what they'd be buying.
Sources:
- Jason Cohen, "Katie Couric Hits Gavin Newsom With Brutal California Stats," Daily Caller News Foundation, March 5, 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, State Employment and Unemployment Summary, December 2025, released January 28, 2026.
- Nicholas Kristof, "These Three Red States Are the Best Hope in Schooling," The New York Times, February 9, 2026.
- "California's Job Market Stalls as Other States Add Workers," Governing, February 10, 2026.
- "Gavin Newsom's 2028 Hopes Dim According to New Poll," Newsweek, May 15, 2025.
