Texas Republican Wesley Hunt accuses Gavin Newsom of ‘code-switching’ with ex-NBA players

Texas Republican Congressman Wesley Hunt slammed California Gov. Gavin Newsom, accusing the rumored 2028 presidential hopeful of “code-switching” in an attempt to attract Black Americans.

 “We call this code-switching,” said Hunt, a Black conservative who represents the 38th Congressional District in Texas.

Newsom, who recently appeared on the “All the Smoke” podcast hosted by former NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, faced criticisms from conservatives online for his dialect while discussing his childhood.

Newsom reflected on being raised by a single mother, who he said “came from no money and just hustled” with “two and a half jobs” to pay the bills.

“It was also about paying the bills, man. It was just like hustling, and so I was out there kind of raising myself, turning on the TV … started, you know, just getting obsessed. [I was] sitting there with the Wonder Bread,” said Newsom. “Come on, the macaroni and cheese. This is how I grew up, bro. Every day in the backyard just bouncing the basketball, throwing the ball against the wall until the ball is just like frayed … that’s it. Whole thing.”

Congressman Hunt joined the conservative podcast “The Benny Show,” where he was asked about Newsom’s conversation on “All the Smoke.” Elaborating on his “code-switching” remark, the Texas Republican explained, “This is the efforts of white benevolent liberals that don’t view us as equal at all — and by us, I mean Black people.”

Hunt continued, “They talk down to us. They think we are too stupid to get an ID to vote, they think that we’re incapable of following the law, they always want to give us handouts instead of hand-ups.”

The congressman said so-called white benevolent liberals are “the most racist [people] I’ve ever seen in the history of this country.”

“They think they can now talk to two Black basketball stars and then now all of a sudden ‘I’m a brother now too because I’m hip and I’m down,’” Hunt continued. “And to be honest with you, it’s quite condescending, it’s actually quite disgusting.”

The 42-year-old congressman said, “Black men can’t think for ourselves. You cannot think that we are beneath you…that you are going to carry us and pat us on the head and say, ‘Come along, young boy, and let me show you the ways of the white man.” 

In response to online critcisms of Newsom’s apperance on the “All the Smoke” podcast, the California governor’s office told the Daily Mail, “Anyone with more than an inch of curiosity would know that Governor Newsom was raised by his mother after her divorce from his father when he was a toddler.”

The spokesperson added, “He has talked about moving between two different worlds, but he was raised by a mother who worked three jobs at one point — secretary, waitress, and paralegal.”