By admin Gov. Gavin Newsom got a nod of approval on his environmental record from an unlikely ally as he plans to stump this weekend for Democrats in New Hampshire, a mandatory state for any potential presidential candidate.
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Newsom appeared alongside Republican former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at the California Economic Summit in Long Beach on Wednesday. The two governors, who mended fences after clashing over last year’s Proposition 50 redistricting campaign, lavished praise on each other for their climate bona fides.
Schwarzenegger was first elected to office in 2003 following the recall of former Gov. Gray Davis and won a full term in 2006. Since leaving office in 2010, the Austrian-born former bodybuilder and action movie star has recast himself as an anti-Trump Republican. In 2024, he endorsed Kamala Harris over Donald Trump, calling the now president “un-American.”
Newsom, who is termed out of office at the end of the year, frequently cites Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan as the founders of the modern environmental movement, citing their creations of the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board. On Wednesday, he included Schwarzenegger in that list for signing the Global Warming Solutions Act in 2006, which required California to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 30% by 2020, and established mandatory emissions caps.
“California was the only game in town in the spirit of what the governor architected in 2006,” Newsom said.
Despite “hysteria” from the oil lobby, Schwarzenegger signed the bill, which Newsom said helped create jobs and launch the state from being the 8th largest global economy in 2006 to the 4th in 2026.
“We are dramatically changing the way we’re producing and consuming energy, and we’re creating jobs and innovation, and we are dominating in this space,” Newsom said. “So everything (Schwarzenegger) asserted has now been proven 20 years later.”
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Schwarzenegger applauded Newsom for requiring the Legislature to pass a California Environmental Quality Act reform bill last year in exchange for signing the budget. Newsom has been neutral on a similar reform ballot initiative, Proposition 45, which voters will decide on next month.
“I know it’s a real challenge to do CEQA reform, and you were attacked immediately and all that, but you stayed with it, and you really created some really good reform,” Schwarzenegger told Newsom. “So I just want to say congratulations and thank you very much because it’s going to help the state of California a tremendous amount.”
Newsom’s office later posted a clip of Schwarzenegger’s praise on its social media channels.
Newsom will stump for Democrats in four New Hampshire cities on Saturday and has raised $526,000 via his small-donor list for the state Democratic Party, according to his political team.
New Hampshire is the third state on the Democrats’ 2028 nominating calendar, and typically elects more moderate candidates than the progressive image Newsom has built. He has also visited Nevada, South Carolina and Alabama in recent months as he mulls a run for president.
Harris is also set to visit New Hampshire later this month, along with Wisconsin, Nevada, Georgia and Mississippi, as she too considers running again.
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Newsom has said he will not run against her if she chooses to jump in the race.