Gavin Newsom and Arnold Schwarzenegger shared a stage Wednesday to champion California’s contested climate legacy.
The Democratic governor and the Republican former governor, 77, appeared together at the 2026 California Economic Summit in Long Beach for a friendly “fireside chat” marking 20 years since Schwarzenegger signed the California Global Warming Solutions Act. The summit ran Oct. 13-15 at the Long Beach Convention Center.
The 2006 law mandated that California cut greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, a 30% reduction. State officials say the target was met ahead of schedule through mandatory emissions caps and reporting for major industrial sources, plus a statewide cap-and-trade program.
Schwarzenegger recalled the political battle he faced pushing the legislation through against opposition from the federal government. “I was going through the struggle,” he said during the event. “I mean, we knew that they were full of s–t, right?”
“The federal government fought us, and every step of the way, and we went to court,” he added. “To me, it doesn’t matter if you’re Republican or Democrat. What is important is that you are representing the people, that you are working for the people and not for the party.”
Schwarzenegger has built a reputation for withholding candidate endorsements and criticizing both parties when he does weigh in on political matters. He backed Kamala Harris in the 2024 election after refusing to support Donald Trump’s 2016 White House bid, and he sat out the 2020 race between Trump and Joe Biden entirely. He has not endorsed anyone in the current California governor’s race or the Los Angeles mayoral contest, though he recently hosted a meet-and-greet for democratic socialist Nithya Raman.
Newsom, 57, used the platform to assert California’s global leadership on environmental policy in the face of federal resistance. “California recognizes its role and responsibility in the absence of federal responsibility,” he said. “The headwinds are well established as it relates to the Trump administration and the vandalism in terms of our efforts is second to none.”
The governor described coordinating with local governments internationally and across the United States to compensate for what he characterized as a federal vacuum on environmental issues. “We have no peers,” Newsom said of California’s environmental protections. “We are dramatically changing the way we’re producing and consuming energy, and we’re creating jobs and innovation, and we are dominating in this space.”
In an unusual move for a Democratic governor in a deeply polarized era, Newsom offered praise for Republican President Richard Nixon’s environmental record. He credited Nixon with creating the Environmental Protection Agency and signing both the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act into law.
President Trump has repeatedly targeted California’s environmental rules since returning to office. His administration repealed the EPA’s 2009 “Endangerment Finding,” which had recognized greenhouse gases as a threat to public health and welfare, prompting California and a coalition of states to file multiple lawsuits to block the rollback.
Trump and congressional Republicans have also sought to strip California of its Clean Air Act preemption waivers, which permit the state to enforce stricter vehicle emission standards than federal requirements. A federal judge halted Trump’s attempt to eliminate those rules this year, though legal and legislative challenges persist.
The Global Warming Solutions Act itself has survived numerous legal and legislative challenges since its enactment. Critics maintain the law concentrates excessive power in state regulators and enables wealthy corporations to continue polluting through the cap-and-trade system while burdening poorer competitors.
California officials continue to defend the framework as a model for other governments, with Newsom emphasizing the state’s role as a substitute for federal action on climate change.
The summit’s timing placed the governors’ joint appearance amid ongoing litigation between California and the Trump administration over environmental regulatory authority.
The California Economic Summit concluded its three-day run at the Long Beach Convention Center on Wednesday.