California Gov. Gavin Newsom ignited a furious conservative backlash Thursday after announcing he would spare all 548 inmates on the state’s death row from execution.
“Unbelievably disgusting,” outgoing MAGA Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) fumed.
“Gavin Newsom just told the victim of every criminal on death row [that] their justice doesn't matter,” Mace wrote. “Stop coddling criminals and start supporting victims.”
MAGA influencer David Freeman, who goes by the name "Gunther Eagleman" on social media, also lashed out at the Democratic governor.
“POS GAVIN NEWSOM JUST MOVED TO WIPE OUT 548 DEATH SENTENCES,” he posted on X, nothing that California’s Supreme Court must approve 382 of the commutations.
“548 killers get a pass. The victims' families get nothing,” he added.
Newsom announced the sweeping decision Thursday, commuting death sentences to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in what The New York Times called “the largest mass commutation of death sentences in modern American history.”
Newsom, who is weighing a 2028 presidential run, defended the decision in an open letter. But conservative critics quickly piled on.
“Today in executive nullification of the laws he's charged with enforcing,” wrote National Review senior writer Dan McLaughlin.
Amy Swearer, a senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, pointed to several notorious killers among those affected.
“Among these are some of the most clear-cut cases justifying execution you can imagine,” she posted on X.
Political consultant Kramer Hagen suggested Newsom’s presidential ambitions were behind the move.
“Make no mistake, this is a move not made on principle, but political calculation because he’s running for President,” Hagen wrote Thursday.
Gavin Newsom just told the victim of every criminal on death row, their justice doesn't matter.Unbelievably disgusting. Stop coddling criminals and start supporting victims.
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) November 5, 2026