California Governor Gavin Newsom Visited Nashville & The “I Came Here To Escape You” Comments Flooded In

California governor Gavin Newsom didn’t exactly get a friendly greeting from Nashvillians.

The politician was in Music City seemingly just to meet with some Democratic-minded activists that call themselves the East Nashtivists. He was also there to continue to engage on a national level as he likely preps for the 2028 Democratic Presidential Primaries. One way or another, Newsom was in town and stopped by East Nashville Beer Works to speak to a group of activists.

And it appears that he was met with open arms by those who helped bring him to Nashville to speak, as you can see in this post from “Tennessee Dems” and the “East Nashtivists” social media pages:

“One of the things Chair Campbell has committed herself to is supporting the efforts of county parties and grassroots advocacy efforts. We were honored to bring California Governor Gavin Newsom to the East Nashtivists meeting tonight with that in mind. Thank you to the East Nashtivists for their advocacy and community-building work – and for welcoming us to be part of their meeting tonight.”

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A post shared by Tennessee Democratic Party (@tndems)

Everything looked to be pretty friendly there, even in the comments section.

But another post from “City Cast Nashville” didn’t go over so well. The social media page for the “daily local podcast” shared a picture of Newsom meeting with Nashvillians inside the watering hole, and posted this question below it:

“California Governor Gavin Newsom was in Nashville tonight at our beloved East Nashville Beer Works showing support for East Nashtivists. If you had the chance to ask him one question — what would it be?”

Boy, oh boy did that open up a can of worms.

Thousands of people flooded the comments, and if you had to guess… we’re they friendly questions or sarcastic ones? If you guessed sarcastic (or maybe even “politically motivated”), you’re the big winner. Whether the post intended to “bait” people into engaging with it or not, some of the questions and other replies that social media users left in the comment section were simply hilarious.

Take a look:

“I’d ask him to go back to California.”

“Do you remember that time you were arresting people on the beach for breathing fresh air?”

“I came here to get away from him. Send him back.”

“Why do you think people from California keep leaving?”

“How did you buy that nine million dollar mansion on your salary?”

“Why aren’t you in your own state fixing your problems that you and your administration caused?”

“Don’t California my Tennessee!”

“How did you ruin California so quickly?”

“Where did the 20 billion dollars go for the homeless in California?”

“Want to come see the house I bought in TN specifically so I could get away from you and your failed policies?”

That’s just skimming the top of the brutal comment section, but not surprising at all.
Clearly a lot of Tennesseans – specifically those in Nashville – relocated to Music City partly to get away from Gavin Newsom. They let it be heard that seeing him in the Volunteer State was something out of a nightmare…

That being said, I’m intrigued to hear more of this conversation: