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SAN ANSELMO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom, widely viewed as a potential contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, had tough words for his own party — “We are as dumb as we want to be,” he said — in an exclusive interview with NBC News Monday in this Marin County suburb north of San Francisco.

Democrats have been too focused on the personality of candidates at the top of the ticket, rather than building a platform that is bigger than the nominee and addresses how the party will fight for what voters want, he said.

“We just have to move beyond the guy or gal on the white horse that’s going to come save the day — it’s exhausting,” the second-term chief executive of the nation’s most-populous state said. “This party needs to rebuild itself from the bottom up, not top down. We are as dumb as we want to be.”

In his nascent quest to help revitalize the Democratic Party, Newsom has been criticized by some progressives for hosting a pair of high-profile allies of President Donald Trump — Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk — on his new podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom.” (The writer of this article sat for an interview on the podcast this week.)

In his talk with Kirk, Newsom further infuriated some allies in the LGBTQ community and on the left by announcing that he opposes trans athletes competing in women’s and girls’ sports. In the 2024 election, Trump weaponized trans issues, including Kamala Harris’ past support for taxpayer-funded gender-affirming treatments.

Newsom said he has been surprised by the ferocity of the backlash against his interviews with MAGA figures, but he appears to be committed to learning from Trump’s victories in two of the last three presidential elections. He was particularly struck by Trump’s advantage with young men, which he attributed to the attention the current president paid to them — which was demonstrated in part by appearing on podcasts and YouTube shows popular with that cohort.

“He had no policy to back up for young men, how to take care of these kids,” Newsom said. “But he at least expressed that — I see you, you matter, I care.”

His approach to the shadow-primary phase of the next nomination fight is decidedly different from those of his potential rivals, some of whom are already making visits to states that have traditionally held early contests. Newsom may have less need for urgency because he has a robust fundraising network, a relatively high national profile for a governor and functional control of the state party that sends the most delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

Democrats have been discussing internally how they might shake up their primary calendar — including possibly holding some contests as early as the fall of 2027 — according to one DNC official. Newsom doesn’t like that idea.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said, sticking to his view that Democrats have to focus on substance and message rather than personality and process.

Newsom reached back into the Democratic past to find a model for the kind of rebuild he seeks. In 1992, then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton won the presidency running on an agenda that Clinton helped build through the centrist Democratic Leadership Council. But the DLC and its ideas were bigger than Clinton. Its influential members included then-Sen. Joe Biden, who would go on to win the White House in 2020. The point, Newsom argued, is that Democrats are too consumed with the idea of being rescued instead of saving themselves.

“I’m not worried about [whether] we will find a great candidate,” he said. “But what do we stand for? What are we about? What are we going to fight for?”

He added that he has been part of the problem at times.

“Who are we? And if we’re a bunch of dangling verbs and policy statements — I make this mistake often, too. I answer a question with 10 policy responses, as opposed to what do [I] stand for.”

For Elijah Smith, who grew up Lutheran and Southern Baptist, Pope Francis‘ teachings centering on social justice and recognition of the marginalized helped to influence his decision to convert to Catholicism a year ago.

“He led by example,” said Smith, 22, a college student from Rockwell, North Carolina, “and he was very accepting. Accepting of the LGBTQ community, accepting of immigrants and very understanding of different cultures.”

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But with Francis’ death Monday at 88, the Catholic Church is at a crossroads: After 12 years of his leadership, does it continue on a progressive path to invigorate new followers with a message of inclusivity, or return to traditional roots at a time when some have yearned for church doctrine bound by conservative customs and liturgy?

Megan Mlinarcik, who was raised Catholic, said she hopes to “keep the tradition that’s happened for hundreds of years” as a worshipper at a Latin Mass in the Pittsburgh area.

For centuries, the church’s traditional Mass was said in Latin and required priests to face the altar with their backs to the congregation, until the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s sought to modernize rituals. Changes included Mass being conducted in local languages and laypeople becoming integral to the services’ readings.

But in 2007, Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, relaxed restrictions, allowing the celebration of Latin Mass to return.

Francis, however, set his own limits on the traditional Mass, saying in 2023 that it was “being used in an ideological way, to go backward.” 

Mlinarcik, 41, attends Latin Mass services with her husband and six children in a church that has only grown post-pandemic, she said. Women wear veils, commonly called mantillas, as a sign of respect. Mlinarcik also moderates a Latin Mass Moms group on Facebook with 3,000 members.

“As traditional Catholics, we pray for the pope, and we want a pope who’s accepting of the Latin Mass and our traditional practices,” she added. “Of course, we want to see our religion grow, but there has to be a place for us.”

The next leader of the world’s roughly 1.4 billion Catholics faces a tall order — to unite a religion that has declined in some countries with significant Catholic populations, including the United States, and an explosive rise in others.

While the loss of followers has leveled off in recent years in the U.S., where there are an estimated 53 million adult Catholics, according to the Pew Research Center, the largest growth of the religion continues to be in Africa, the Vatican said in statistics released this year.

Africa and Asia also saw significant increases in new priests, according to the Vatican.

Mathew Schmalz, the founding editor of the Journal of Global Catholicism, said Francis — the first Latin American pope — made a significant choice to appoint new cardinals from developing countries and other nontraditional places.

“The Western world is no longer the center of the Catholic world,” said Schmalz, a religious studies professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Francis made the plight of migrants a focal point of his papacy, and two months ago criticized the Trump administration’s efforts to conduct mass deportations in a letter to American bishops. It came after he rebuked then-presidential candidate Donald Trump during the fall for his plan to deport migrants, while also condemning then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ stance supporting abortion rights.

Whomever the cardinals elect as the next pope in a secretive gathering known as a conclave must grapple with the very specific needs of Catholics where the religion is thriving and has a viable future.

While marriage equality and abortion are often at the center of polarizing religious debates in the West, Schmalz said, “those aren’t necessarily the primary issues for people in the global south, who have to deal with, oftentimes, poverty, wealth inequality, social justice issues and the religion’s relationship with Islam.”

He said the cardinals may choose to select a pope who can continue Francis’ reforms, roll them back or simply “take a breather, let the reforms sink in, and allow the Catholic Church to catch its breath.”

“They’ll probably choose someone who has a pastoral style the way Pope Francis did, but who is not going to push reforms even further or necessarily roll them back,” Schmalz added.

Stephen White, the executive director of The Catholic Project, a research initiative at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., said a pope must be “the rock” who can guarantee unity and the church’s integrity, rather than micromanage each diocese.

“I think it is unlikely that the cardinals choosing the next pope will be looking simply to double down on Francis’ pontificate, but neither will they be looking to repudiate it,” he said.

“Pope Francis spoke often of the need to ‘make a mess,’ to shake things up,” White said, referring to a speech the pope made to a group of South American children. “He certainly did that. I expect the next pope to look to consolidate things a bit and perhaps do a little tidying up.”

Potential front–runners to succeed Francis represent both traditional factions of leadership when it comes to family, marriage, gay rights and immigration, while others have championed pressing social issues in their home nations.

In the U.S., surveys have shown younger Catholics have become more theologically conservative than their older counterparts, while younger priests are also more theologically conservative and politically moderate. Voters identifying as Catholic overwhelmingly voted for Republicans in the 2024 election.

“There’s no doubt that the majority of American bishops are conservative and back Trump, and there’s a great political cleavage in the Catholic Church,” said Andrew Chesnut, the Catholic studies chair at Virginia Commonwealth University.

He said he expects conservative Catholics in Western countries to voice opposition if another pope like Francis is chosen.

“We might see some significant defection, particularly if we have two reformist popes back to back,” Chesnut added.

Schmalz agreed that whoever becomes Francis’ successor may be met with some resistance in the U.S., “simply because the Catholic community is so divided.”

“We live in divisive times,” he said. “It’s going to be an open question whether the next pope will try to heal those divisions or unintentionally deepen them.”

When Tanaya Pinkston was 5 years old, she witnessed her mother have a stroke. It was one of the scariest moments of her life, but the compassion and care she received from the 911 operator left a lasting impression.

“As soon as they heard that it was a child’s voice on the phone, they were like, this is probably a serious situation, and they had to take a different approach to it,” Pinkston said.

Now a senior at McClure Health Science High School in Duluth, Georgia, Pinkston wants to become a pediatric ICU nurse.

“If I didn’t come to McClure, I feel like I would have known that I wanted to go into health care, but the actual career would have never been solidified, and so I would have been stuck wondering,” Pinkston said.

The $38 million school prepares teens for healthcare careers through hands-on learning using state-of-the-art equipment, including dummy patients, EKG machines and dissection tables. Students also train outside the classroom through partnerships with local hospitals and healthcare facilities.

“When you take a child or a student, and they are getting a chance to put their hands on it and do it — whether they succeed or fail at using it — it gives them a chance to interact with it and they’re gaining so much more knowledge than what they would ever get from a piece of paper,” McClure teacher James Boulware said.

Students typically graduate with certifications that set them up for careers in healthcare. “Our students can go to a hospital and just start working there until they figure out what they want to do with their future, or they can go to college and continue reaching their working experience with these certifications they’re graduating with,” principal Dr. Gypsy Hernandez said.

The school serves a majority Hispanic and lower-income population. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, about 6% of U.S. physicians identify as Hispanic. Dr. Hernandez said McClure is helping bridge the racial gap.

“Students are going to be able to not just provide a service in another language, but also understand culturally where patients or communities are coming from so that they will be able to help them,” Dr. Hernandez said.

Learn more about McClure Health Sciences High School in the video above. Find out more about its curriculum here.

The Idaho woman who was forcibly dragged out of a local Republican town hall in February is seeking $5 million in damages.

Teresa Borrenpohl was dragged from her seat and onto the floor by private security guards who did not identify themselves after disrupting a GOP town hall in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on Feb. 22, according to video of the event and statements from officials.

Borrenpohl filed a notice of tort claim on Monday with the Kootenai County Clerk, asserting that a group of men — which she says includes Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris — and a private security company hired for the event violated her constitutional rights.

“Town halls are intended to foster conversation and discourse across the aisle, which is why I am deeply alarmed that private security dragged me out of the public meeting for simply exercising my fundamental right of free speech,” Borrenpohl said in a statement.

Norris and the private security firm, LEAR Asset Management, did not immediately return requests for comment.

The court filing comes several days after prosecutors said six men were charged with crimes in connection with the town hall.

The Coeur d’Alene City Attorney’s Office announced in a statement on April 17 that it had filed charges against six men involved in the event.

Paul Trouette, Russell Dunne, Chistofer Berge and Jesse Jones were all charged with battery, false imprisonment, security agent uniform violation and security agent duties violation, according to the attorney’s office.

Alex Trouette was charged with security agent uniform violation and security agent duties violation, and Michael Keller was charged with battery, the statement said.

It was not immediately clear whether any of the men had legal representation. NBC News’ attempts to reach the Kootenai County office of the Idaho Public Defender were unsuccessful.

The February town hall was hosted by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.

The committee, in a Facebook post at the time, stated that Borrenpohl “shouted down legislators with insults,” thereby disrupting the town hall. She was eventually asked to leave.

At the time, the chairman of the committee, Brent Regan, said Borrenpohl was removed by “licensed and bonded professional security” after interrupting the event at least seven times. He accused her of having a history of disrupting meetings.

All of the town hall attendees were told that they would be removed if they did not “respect the rights of others,” Regan said.

According to a video of the incident, Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris asked the woman to leave, but she refused. After attempting to remove Borrenpohl himself by pulling her arm, Norris instructed men wearing black clothing to remove her.

Video shows Borrenpohl asking the men who they were, but they did not answer. She asked Norris if the men were deputies; he also did not reply.

Norris was seen on the video shouting at Borrenpohl to leave as she accused the men of assaulting her. She was then physically dragged out of her seat and onto the floor.

Coeur d’Alene Police Department Sgt. Jared Reneau told NBC News at the time that the police chief recommended revoking the city’s license for LEAR Asset Management, the security company for which the men dressed in black worked.

The company has since had its business license revoked for violating Coeur d’Alene City ordinances regarding security markings and identification, according to NBC News affiliate KTVB of Boise.

After the incident, Borrenpohl told KTVB that she felt her First Amendment rights were taken from her in that moment.

“I could have never imagined my right to free speech and my right to assemble could be stripped in such a violent way,” the statement said. “Due to the sensitivity and shock of the matter, I am unable to speak on this situation immediately, but I will make my voice heard when the time is appropriate.”

More than 150 university and college presidents co-signed a letter on Tuesday condemning the Trump administration’s recent efforts to dictate the policies of private higher education institutions in exchange for federal funding.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has paused billions of dollars in federal grants to several of the nation’s most prestigious universities — including Harvard, Columbia and Princeton — in an attempt to get the universities to change their admissions processes and penalize student protestors.

The letter’s signatories range from large public universities to small liberal arts schools, and include each of the Ivy League schools, except for Columbia University and Dartmouth University.

“As leaders of America’s colleges, universities, and scholarly societies, we speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education,” the Tuesday letter, orchestrated by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, says.

“We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight,” the letter continues. “However, we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses.”

“We will always seek effective and fair financial practices, but we must reject the coercive use of public research funding,” it adds.

The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.

So far, the Trump administration has only paused or threatened to pause billions of dollars of federal funding, which is vital to the operations of several universities, including Columbia, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and Princeton. The moves are part of the administration’s broader effort to “root out” antisemitism on college campuses.

Columbia ceded to a list of demands by the Trump administration last month in exchange for starting talks to restore funding. The demands included instituting a mask ban at protests in most cases, hiring an outsider to oversee its Department of Middle East, South Asian, and African studies, committing to “greater institutional neutrality” and enlisting three dozen new security officers.

The New York City-based university’s acquiescence prompted outrage among the higher education community. Columbia’s interim president at the time, Katrina A. Armstrong, resigned a week later. 

Harvard was similarly sent a list of demands by the Trump administration, which mandated that the university audit the viewpoints of students and professors and shutter its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

Although it initially appeared that the university would take a similar approach to Columbia, Harvard ultimately rejected the administration’s orders.

Harvard, which was founded more than a century before the United States, sued the administration on Monday and asked a federal judge in Massachusetts to reverse the termination of $2.2 billion in federal grants to the university.

Tuesday’s letter also denounced the Trump administration’s unprecedented effort to deport international students.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has revoked hundreds of student visas from foreign students, many of whom are Middle Eastern. Immigration authorities have also apprehended foreign students, some of whom were involved in pro-Palestinian protests at universities last year.

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