California Gov. Gavin Newsom said this week that Democrats should look to the late conservative influencer Charlie Kirk’s outreach to young men as a model for their own party.

In a public conversation with former President Bill Clinton, Newsom said that conservative figures have tapped into young men’s frustrations and mobilized them—including Kirk, who was assassinated during a public event in Utah in September. Newsom said Democrats need to confront what he described as a “crisis of men and boys” both to help those men and to stay competitive in politics.

“Charlie Kirk’s ability, what he was able to achieve in terms of organizing the campuses, engaging these young men, addressing their grievances, giving them some sense of hope that someone cared, that they mattered, that they were seen,” Newsom said. “He was able to produce and organize around that in a deeply meaningful way. And the Democratic Party was nowhere to be found on the issue.”

Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, reached out to young people around the country through events on college campuses—where Kirk debated with those who disagreed with him on various issues. Kirk is one of many conservative voices credited with helping reach young conservatives in 2024’s presidential election, in which President Donald Trump garnered 56 percent of the vote among young men, according to a Tufts University poll.

The exchange with Newsom came after Clinton noted that fewer young men are going to college and asked what California is doing to support them. Newsom said the state has created a service corps larger than the Peace Corps and has rolled out a plan targeting men’s mental health, education, and job training.

The governor cited high suicide rates among men, school dropouts, and loneliness among young men, and he said some Democrats hesitate to address men’s issues because they think they compete with efforts to help women.

Earlier this summer, other prominent Democrats warned that the party is losing a generation of men. Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on a podcast that Democrats had “lost it with young men” after years of “walking on eggshells” around cultural issues and urged a renewed focus on strength, confidence, and optimism.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz—the party’s 2024 vice presidential candidate alongside then-Vice President Kamala Harris—said many young men are drawn to the excitement of Republican politics because Democrats “fail to offer men a compelling sense of direction.”

Pew Research Center’s National Public Opinion Reference Survey found that men are 12 percentage points more likely than women to lean Republican. The same poll shows that currently, 53 percent of men lean Republican, while 39 percent lean Democratic.

Democratic strategists told The Epoch Times earlier this year that Democrats need to engage disengaged men with policies and messages that speak to work and community or risk ceding them to Republicans.

Charlie Kirk hands out hats before speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 10, 2025. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP)

Newsom is also acting on his own warnings. On Sept. 16, he unveiled the California Men’s Service Challenge, calling on 10,000 young men to serve as mentors, tutors, and coaches in partnership with schools and nonprofits.

The initiative, announced at a Sacramento high school, built on an executive order he signed in July to address mental health and rising suicide rates among boys and men. State officials said male role models are in short supply and that suicide rates for men aged 15 to 44 are three to four times higher than for women.

Newsom said the “epidemic of loneliness” among men is not a zero‑sum issue: Helping boys and men strengthens families and communities. Organizers hope the challenge will expand opportunities for young men to feel seen, valued, and connected.

The governor said the framework includes service opportunities, mentoring, and recruiting more male teachers. One of the biggest gaps, he said, is the lack of male educators in early grades, which he said can be addressed with simple interventions.

Earlier in the conversation with Clinton, Newsom touted California’s $4.1 trillion economy and said the state leads in industries from technology to farming.

When Clinton asked what citizens could do amid political division, Newsom quoted Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, saying the most important office in a democracy is that of the citizen.

He urged people to engage in their communities with grace, humility, and respect and said that everyone wants to be protected, respected, and connected to something larger than him- or herself.

Newsom has not stated he is running for president in 2028, but he is widely seen as a contender for the Democratic nomination, as he has gained a national profile.