Now that he’s the host of a podcast, Gavin Newsom is doing something a lot of podcast hosts have been known to do: Challenge people to debates.
The California governor issued just such a challenge on Friday to Vice President JD Vance.
Hey @JDVance — nice of you to finally make it out to California.
Since you’re so eager to talk about me, how about saying it to my face?
Let’s debate. Time and place?
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 20, 2025
Newsom issued the challenge after Vance arrived in Los Angeles, amid the major tensions over ICE raids in that city.
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In that speech, Vance ripped Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, accusing them of instigating riots.
“Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass, by treating this city as a sanctuary city, have basically said that it is open season on federal law enforcement,” Vance said in his Los Angeles remarks.
“What happened here was a tragedy. You had people who were doing the simple job of enforcing the law, and they had rioters egged on by the governor and the mayor, making it harder to do their job. That is disgraceful, and it is why the president has responded so forcefully.”
Also in that speech, per NBC News, Vance committed a faux pas related to a different California Democrat, mistakenly referring to Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), who was forcefully removed from a press conference last week, as “Jose Padilla.”
“I was hoping José Padilla would be here to ask a question. But, unfortunately, I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t the theater, and that’s all it is,” Vance said in the speech. “It’s pure political theater. These guys show up. They want to be captured on camera doing something.”
There have been a couple of prominent people named Jose Padilla, one of whom was the man who shortly after the 9/11 attacks was convicted of plotting a dirty bomb attack in the U.S. A different Jose Padilla was the plaintiff in a Supreme Court case called Padilla v. Commonwealth of Kentucky in 2001, involving deportation and criminal consequences, and that case has been cited more recently. It’s possible Vance remembered the names of one or both Jose Padillas from his law school studies.
It’s downstream of a 7-2 Supreme Court decision holding that lawyers for noncitizens have a constitutional obligation to advise their clients of the immigration consequences of a guilty plea. https://t.co/DgZ9WoKvfQ
— Chase Woodruff (@dcwoodruff) May 6, 2025
Taylor Van Kirk, a spokesman for Vance, said after the speech that Vance “must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.” Alex Padilla, in asking a question at Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s press conference, broke no laws and was not arrested or charged with any crimes.
Among those calling out Vance was… Gavin Newsom, who noted that Vance and Alex Padilla were in the U.S. Senate together for two years.
JD Vance served with Alex Padilla in the United States Senate.
Calling him “Jose Padilla” is not an accident. pic.twitter.com/UOgdzdKcuy
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 20, 2025
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
