Celebrity fitness expert Jillian Michaels said in a new interview that the deadly California wildfires will drive the state toward Republicans in the next election cycle.
“I mean, you saw that the state gained far more red voters in this previous election. I think there’s going to be a change, for sure, in the next run for governor,” Michaels said during a Monday evening appearance on NewsNation’s “On Balance With Leland Vittert.”
Her remarks came a week after several massive fires have destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 24 people in and around Los Angeles. Firefighters continue to attack flare-ups and contain the blazes, with the National Weather Service issuing a rare warning that dry winds combined with severely dry conditions have created a “particularly dangerous situation.”
“And while I hate to make this an issue of red versus blue, I tend to look at this as if California was a company, right? It’s one of the largest economies in the world. You’ve got a bad operator, period. It doesn’t matter what party he belongs to,” Michaels said, referring to California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). “People are forcing change.”
In introducing her, he said Michaels lost a home to fire in 2018. Michaels said she moved to Florida in 2021, and she told Vittert that many people she knows in California are going to join her in Miami.
In response to criticism about the response to Los Angeles-area wildfires, Newsom’s office released information detailing efforts to increase California’s firefighter staffing, its aerial fleet and forest management.
Newsom in recent days has accused President-elect Trump of “threatening our first responders” and politicizing the fires.
Trump has blamed the governor for the crisis and threatened to withhold federal support for the state once he retakes office.
Michaels noted she had been a resident of “deep-blue” California her entire life, adding that Newsom’s handling of PG&E’s role in the state’s deadly 2018 Camp Fire, the COVID pandemic and rioting “affected” her life and “changed” her.
“And I think you’re going to see that when it touches you, it changes you. And for California, that’s a good thing, because it is in desperate need of reform.”
Newsom’s office said on Tuesday that officials are doing everything in their power to combat the flames.
“The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need,” Izzy Gordon, Newsom’s director of communications, said in a statement to The Hill.
