California Gov. Gavin Newsom rallies North Carolina Democrats over Labor Day weekend

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – California Gov. Gavin Newsom stopped in North Carolina this weekend to campaign with local Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Newsom joined volunteers in Charlotte to knock on doors for U.S. Senate candidate Roy Cooper and Mecklenburg County Democrats before heading to a Labor Day weekend rally in Monroe on Saturday.

The stops are part of Gov. Newsom’s “Take It Back” campaign tour through Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Newsom, who governs the most populous state in the nation, has risen to the national spotlight in recent years for his high-profile sparring matches with the Trump administration.

Though widely viewed as a potential 2028 presidential contender, he urged the crowd in Monroe to stay focused on the immediate election cycle.

“My entire life I’ve seen the expansion of rights. Now it’s rights regression. This is it — don’t focus on 2028,” Newsom said Saturday. “The biggest mistake the Democratic Party makes is we watch cable TV and we focus on the next presidential [election].”

Newsom emphasized that state, legislative, and local races require the most urgent focus.

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Newsom claims Trump wants to nationalize elections

Newsom criticized the Trump administration at the Sept. 5 rally, accusing the president of attempting a “cultural purge” and trying to nationalize elections.

“The president of the United States wants to put America in reverse,” he said.

Gov. Newsom targeted Republican efforts to restrict mail-in voting — just one day after the North Carolina State Board of Elections approved rules to change the state’s vote-by-mail system.

“The United States Postal Service deciding who gets the ballots and when they’re sent back, whether or not they’re even counted because they’re sent back a day late — that’s happening in real time,” Newsom said. “Trying to nationalize these elections, trying to take the voting law. Donald Trump is ruthless. This election is it.”

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‘Your party should be worried’: GOP fires back

Republicans across North Carolina quickly pushed back ahead of Newsom’s visit, including Cooper’s opponent, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley.

“Radical Roy Cooper and his best friend Gavin Newsom are rallying today to bring California’s ‘progressive’ agenda to North Carolina,” a spokesperson for Whatley said Saturday. ”Newsflash for Cooper — North Carolina wants nothing to do with the radical destruction Newsom has unleashed onto his state.”

Monroe Republican Mayor Robert Burns also commented on the high-profile visit on X, formerly Twitter.

“Three years ago, nobody came to Monroe to politic. Now the Governor of California just flew 3,000 miles to stand in my town,” Burns posted. “Welcome to Monroe, Gavin. You and your party should be worried.”

Newsom plans to stop in several more counties across the southeast as the nation prepares for midterm elections on Nov. 3, 2026.

He told local Democrats that the face of politics is changing, telling supporters it is time to “fight fire with fire.”

He was joined by several other local politicians and candidates at the rally including North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton, Judge Toby Hampson, Judge Christine Walczyk, President of the NC AFL-CIO Braxton Winston.

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