Attendees at the California Democratic Convention registered a mix of emotions ranging from shock to anger to confusion but left the impression that the supermajority party was still at a loss for how to combat the federal government’s surge of attacks on California while nationally, the party is reeling from a historic drop in popularity.

Keynote speaker Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz gave both a pep talk and warning that Democrats had an opportunity to harness popular anger at federal cuts to social services and mass deportations, but needed to find “some guts” to stand up against the Trump administration.

While Walz, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and former NFL punter Chris Kluwe — fresh off his arrest earlier this year for protesting a “MAGA” plaque at a Huntington Beach city council meeting — delivered rousing speeches, there was a sense that the party was still reeling from its shellacking in the 2024 election and paralyzed over how to oppose Republicans, who are largely organized and poised to pass sweeping cuts to state and federal funding.

As when Trump first took office in 2017, Democrats are motivated by anger over his policies, particularly a sharp crackdown on immigration and people in the country without authorization.

“No cap, losing sucks, but it is fueling the fights we are in right now,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove said during an energetic speech to delegates Saturday afternoon. Borrowing a phrase from rapper Kendrick Lamar, she called on Democrats to “squabble up” for the fight against Trump and Republicans in power.

At the same time, Gov. Gavin Newsom — who skipped the convention — has been embroiled in simmering conflicts with some members of his own party over his climate policies and proposal to pause Medi-Cal expansion for undocumented residents to cover a $12 billion budget deficit. Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who is expected to soon decide whether to run for governor, did not appear either, opting to give a video address.

“I do believe this party is unified in the work that we have to do, first and foremost, to protect vulnerable communities that are under attack, and ensure that we are organized and in position to retake the House of Representatives in 2026 and cut Donald Trump’s term in half,” said party chair Rusty Hicks, who was also reelected to another term by delegates.

A weekend immigration raid at a San Diego restaurant rattled and angered many Democrats from the area, who pledged to fight for the state’s immigrant communities. ICE agents detained several of the restaurant’s workers.

“It hits very close to home,” said Toni Atkins, a former state Senate leader who is running for governor and lives just a few blocks from where the raid took place. “We know that the immigration system needs reform. Under Republican and Democratic administrations it’s needed to happen. But this is wrong. California’s economy counts on immigrants, whether we’re talking farm workers or people in Silicon Valley.”

Lorena Gonzalez, the head of the California Labor Federation, said Democrats should focus on opposing provisions in Congress’ pending “big, beautiful” budget bill, which calls for a 10-year moratorium on states passing artificial intelligence regulations.

She criticized some Democrats’ fascination with AI and the tech industry for boosting the nascent technology without considering its potential to automate jobs out of existence and its draining of environmental resources.

“Parts of this party think it’s a cool idea without looking at it any more,” she said. “So we’ve got to decide. You know, they can’t just ask us after the election, why are working-class people leaving the party? Well, what is the party doing for work ng-class people?”

Though Democrats maintain a supermajority in the Legislature, Republicans have seized upon frustrations with rising housing costs and gas prices to position themselves as representatives of working-class voters. Various factions of Democrats, ranging from the developer-friendly “abundance movement” to populists, have struggled to coalesce around a single strategy.

Earlier this week, Republicans joined Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, D-Delano, in calling for the state’s top air pollution regulator to step down after she told lawmakers that the California Air Resources Board did not factor in costs to consumers when implementing pollution rules. The state estimates that it could lose 20% of its refining power when Valero and Philips 66 shut down next year, meaning higher prices at the pump if California has to import fuel from out of state.

Newsom’s office criticized Bains, whose district represents the state’s largest oil producers, for siding with Trump by “carrying water for big polluters.”

Bains said in an interview that CARB was responsible for the state’s affordability crisis, including rising fuel prices and overall cost of living.

“Everybody wants air that they can breathe that’s clean. But do you want to do it off the backs of poor people?” she said. “This transition has happened in a way that was unjust to people that cannot keep up. We can’t pass the buck to poor people to foot the bill for billionaires that are making a lot of money off of lofty ideas.”

Five months after Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas promised to tackle rising expenses for residents, Democrats still said affordability was the issue du jour but offered few specifics.

“I think there’s a real desire from voters across the board, not just Democrats, to see us fight back for working people and to really call out the fact that we have had growing income inequality for some time now, and it’s completely out of control,” said Sen. Sasha Renee Perez, D-Alhambra.

“I mean, all of us are going to the grocery stores, we’re going to buy food, whatever it might be,” Perez said. “And it feels like your pocketbook is shrinking and the price of goods continues to skyrocket and soar. I think that we really need to start having tough conversations about holding corporations accountable.”

Hicks acknowledged it’s something Democrats in the Legislature need to deliver on.

“Have they done good work? Yes. Do they need to do more? Yes,” he said. “The speaker and the pro tem and those caucuses have to find a way to do that.”

San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who ousted an incumbent in the city’s most expensive-ever election, said Democratic values remained popular, but voters were fed up with politicians for not making progress on housing, public safety and homelessness.

“The best way to fight for progressive values is by ensuring that we make the basics work,” he said. He dismissed some centrists’ beliefs that Democrats should moderate at the expense of identity groups like transgender people.

“We’re seeing a shift, a momentum shift, just because we’re focusing on the basics, not because we change our values,” he said, referencing the sentiment that San Francisco, long a right-wing punching bag, was seeing a post-pandemic resurgence.

Distributed by Tribune News Service.