Brawl Breaks Out on The View Over Gavin Newsom’s Claim Midterm Elections Could Be Rigged

The View co-hosts played comments from California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) Friday that kicked off a brawl over his comments about the 2026 midterm elections being “rigged.”

In a clip from his sit-down interview with ABC’s Jon Karl, Newsom claimed President Donald Trump’s threat to send “election monitors” to California has him “scared to death” that the election won’t be “fair and free.”

“He’s worried,” Joy Behar said. “Are you as worried about it as he is? Or is he just going to make more Americans distrust the election process like Trump has been doing since he lost in 2020?”

Former Trump staffer Alyssa Farah Griffin denounced Newsom’s comments as “wholly irresponsible,” adding that Newsom “oversees elections in his own state. He oversees the cybersecurity infrastructure. He oversees the secretary of state, down to poll watchers, to election workers, Gavin Newsom has a lot of power.”

Griffin added, “He could at minimum say, ‘California will have a free and fair election and I’ll work with every governor to make sure there’s no efforts to undermine them.’ But that’s not what he’s doing.”

Sunny Hostin asked, “How does he do that when Donald Trump is sending federal monitors?”

GRIFFIN: Because he’s the chief executive of the state. Monitors — we need to know what that means. It’s an alarming phrase.

JOY BEHAR: Doesn’t it sound like election intimidators?

GRIFFIN: It reminds me of the gerrymandering debate. Everyone is angry when Texas redraws congressional maps to add more Republican seats, “They’re cheating, it’s rigged,” so, California responds by cheating and rigging by adding more Democrat seats.”

BEHAR: So, what are they supposed to do, just lay back —

HOSTIN: Just let them do it?

GRIFFIN: No! You’re supposed to safely secure your elections and tell your voters you can trust voting in California.

BEHAR: The gerrymandering! What are you supposed to do with that?

GRIFFIN: You should challenge it at the state level. Former governor [Arnold] Schwarzenegger talked about this. There’s a process to do it in California. There’s a process in Texas. Change the laws so that people cannot —

HOSTIN: You can’t change the laws when Republicans are in charge in Texas. You can’t do it!

California’s attorney general has said he’ll deploy his own observers to oversee Trump’s election monitors during the upcoming elections.

Watch the clip above via ABC’s The View.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!