Millionaire Gov. Gavin Newsom Defends Buttigieg’s Bougie Wine Cave Event: Don’t Apologize for Success

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom came out in defense of South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg after the presidential candidate was criticized for hosting a high-dollar donor event at a Napa Valley wine cellar — complete with $900 bottles of cabernet and a chandelier adorned with 1,500 Swarovski crystals.

“That cave has been used by Democrats all across the country for fundraising — probably a hundred congressional representatives have benefited from the use of that,” Newsom told ABC News on Thursday night just after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) took shots at Buttigieg’s bougie fundraising habits during the PBS/Politico Democratic presidential debate.

When asked if he had used the same wine cave for events, the Democratic governor shot back, “Are you kidding? I’m in the business, so I know that place well.”

“Democrats are good at begrudging people,” continued Newsom, a millionaire whose work as a private businessman involved operating wineries in the Bay Area. “I don’t know what it is. I just don’t think it’s healthy … I don’t know why someone that’s had success should apologize for it, or be embarrassed by it, or now no longer be able to participate in the democratic process.”

During Thursday’s debate in Los Angeles, Warren called out Buttigieg for slinging such expensive bottles of wine to his donors, adding, “We made the decision many years ago that rich people in smoke-filled rooms would not pick the next president of the United States,” she said. “Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the president of the United States.”

The mayor defended his venue and drink choice by pointing the question back to Warren’s funding: “Senator, your presidential campaign right now as we speak is funded in part by money you transferred having raised it at those exact same big ticket fundraisers you denounce. Did it corrupt you, senator? Of course not.”