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CNN host Dana Bash confronted Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., on Sunday about California’s unaffordability problem, citing a couple who fled to Nashville to escape the state’s high costs.
“California has the highest cost of living in the nation,” Bash told Newsom. “The state’s prices are 11% higher than the national average. We were actually out to dinner here in Nashville last night. We met a couple from California. They moved to California because they couldn’t afford rent or buy a house and start a family.”
Bash spoke with Newsom in a wide-ranging interview on “State of the Union,” when the governor faced questions about his book, “Young Man Hurry.”
“Yes, we’ve had hundreds of thousands of people move to California. The last two, three years, we’ve seen population growth. As you know, we’ve gone from the sixth to the fourth largest economy in the world. And we’re dominating now in all the key industries, from AI, quantum, robotics. We’re dominating in ag [agriculture]. We rule the forests. We dominate in manufacturing,” Newsom said.
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Bavaria, Munich: Gavin Newsom, Governor of the US state of California, participates in the 62nd Munich Security Conference on February 14, 2026. (Marijan Murat/photo alliance via Getty Images)
Bash said people were struggling to pay for things in government, while Newsom countered that they wanted “$11 insulin” and universal health care.
He said California has the lowest wages for health care workers and fast food workers, and said the state “just funded over 300,000 child care facilities.”
“So we’re looking at both sides. That’s why we have an agenda for parents that expands paid sick leave and expands eight weeks of paid family leave, all to support families, to address the cost of living and to address the problem of affordability that goes back literally 70 years in California, for one reason,” he said.
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However, the governor acknowledged California’s housing crisis.
“We are dumb as we want to stay in the houses, and we could not get out of our way. It explains many things in many ways and many ways of what is wrong with our state. And, in the end, we moved forward with the historic reforms of housing that even our worst critics, including some on the left, like my friend Ezra Klein, agreed and perhaps had a major impact on the change of generation,” said.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference after visiting the newly reopened Ruby Bridges Elementary School in Alameda, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Questions about California’s policies will take center stage if Newsom decides to run for president in 2028.
A University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll released Thursday found that the former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at the top of the list of potential candidates for the Democratic Alliance presidential election in 2028.
Newsom and Rep. New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tied for second at 15%, with former Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee in 2024, and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona each 10%.
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