The Democrat Party has a 60-year tradition of walking into Black communities, flashing a big smile, and explaining why they're basically the same person.
Now the man who wants to be their next president just handed Republicans the 2028 campaign ad they've been waiting for.
What Gavin Newsom said in Atlanta on Sunday – in front of a Black mayor, in front of cameras rolling – is the kind of moment that doesn't go away.
Newsom's Racist Pander to Black Voters Just Hit 20 Million Views
Newsom was in Atlanta promoting his memoir, making stops on what everyone in politics knows is a 2028 presidential audition tour.
Standing next to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, he looked out at the crowd and started explaining why they should connect with him.
"I'm like you," Newsom told the audience. "I'm a 960 SAT guy. You've never seen me read a speech. Because I cannot read a speech."
The clip hit X within hours and crossed 20 million views by Sunday evening.
Ted Cruz called it "the soft bigotry of low expectations."
Fox News contributor Joe Concha called it disqualifying and told Republicans to run it on a loop through 2028.
Democrats Have a Long History of This – and It Just Killed Newsom's 2028 Chances
Here's the part that should make every conservative in America furious.
Newsom isn't a rogue candidate who went off script. He's the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination. His people are running a polished, calculated national campaign disguised as a book tour. This wasn't a slip.
This was a man who went to Atlanta – a majority-Black city – and decided the best way to connect with Black voters was to tell them he's dumb.
His press secretary's response made it worse. The official statement from the governor of California called the backlash "MAGA-manufactured outrage" and claimed Newsom has been saying this for years.
For years.
He's been telling Black audiences he's just like them because he scored a 960 on his SAT for years, and nobody in the Democrat Party stopped him. That's not a gaffe. That's a worldview.
Joe Biden told Black voters in 2020 that if they couldn't figure out whether to support him or Trump, "you ain't Black." He told an Iowa crowd in 2019 that "poor kids are just as bright and talented as white kids" – then caught himself and tacked on wealthy kids, Black kids, Asian kids. Hillary Clinton told "The Breakfast Club" she carries hot sauce everywhere she goes.
Every election cycle, white Democrats show up in Black communities and perform some version of the same pantomime: I understand you, I'm one of you, here's proof.
The proof is always embarrassing.
Newsom's version is more damaging than most because he did it while running for president, in a battleground state, next to a Black mayor who had to stand there and smile. He did it while already trailing Kamala Harris badly with Black Democratic voters – a group where polling shows Harris pulling more than 50 percent support compared to Newsom's single digits.
In other words, Newsom desperately needed to win over Black voters. So he walked into Atlanta and told them he can't read.
The 2028 ads write themselves. Every Republican strategist in the country knows it. Every Democrat in a swing district knows it too – they just can't say so out loud.
Gavin Newsom spent Sunday proving that the Democrat Party's view of Black America hasn't changed in 60 years. They show up every four years, slow down their speech, say something humble, and assume that's enough.
Atlanta just proved it isn't.
Sources:
- Andrew Mark Miller, "Newsom ripped over 'racist' viral clip telling Black mayor 'I'm like you' before touting poor SAT score," Fox News, February 23, 2026.
- John Nolte, "Newsom Tells Black Audience 'I'm Like You…960 SAT…I Cannot Read a Speech,'" Breitbart, February 23, 2026.
- "Biden's history of controversial racial comments," Fox News, October 6, 2020.
- Spencer Kimball, "August 2025 National Poll: Newsom Surges Ahead in 2028 Democratic Nomination Contest," Emerson College Polling, August 29, 2025.
