General Discussion

Let's just get this part out of the way first so I can't have my intentions misinterpreted:
In full disclosure Newsom is NOT my pick for president and I freely admit I will fight for almost anyone else but him in the primary process.
That said, to be clear: if Newsom wins the primary I will support him and vote for him.
Now that is out of the way...
The words he said and who he was saying it to still make this very rough around the edges and a bit unseemly in my opinion.

The person he said that to was Andre Dickens, the Black mayor of Atlanta.

So, I freely admit that some would not find that racist, while others might.

Why would I say that?

Because the implications is that he did poorly on his SAT and unless he knows him well seems like a odd assumption. Not only that he did poorly but also because he might not be that smart. Also a bit of an odd assumption. The statement sounded a little condescending to be honest. At least in my opinion.

Also to be clear, he kind of walked into a field of landmines. Here is the rub with standardized tests like the SAT: historically standardized tests have had a tendency to test Blacks and Latinos poorly due to a white centric lean in word problem creation and literary references. Another significant factor is typically, due to systemic racism and redlining, people that live in poorer areas have fewer educational resources and poorer educational outcomes and therefore, on average, poorer outcomes on standardized tests than white people from primarily white suburban areas. That isn't my opinion but supported by years of peer-reviewed scientific studies.

While I'm willing to admit maybe that wasn't his intention, it's still not a good look when examined in context. Mistakes like these can be overcome but we need candidates that think before they speak and not become fodder for some ignorant racist's podcast.
Tried to give several references to show I'm not trying to denigrate anyone but have an honest discussion as to why some might see things a different way and might see the comment as racist or a little tone deaf.
References:
https://theatlantavoice.com/testing-bias-black-students/

https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/racist-beginnings-standardized-testing

https://wordinblack.com/2024/02/culturally-blind-standardized-tests-more-like-culturally-biased/

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1473284.pdf