[1] Gușă's political career began in 2001, when he became secretary general of the Social Democratic Party (PSD); until 2003, he was thought of as the right-hand man of then-party leader and Prime Minister Adrian Năstase.

That year, he resigned from the party, citing differences in vision with members of an older generation such as Viorel Hrebenciuc, Octav Cozmâncă and Miron Mitrea.

[1] In early 2005,[3] Gușă was elected head of the PD group in the Chamber of Deputies, but the party leadership invalidated the vote on a technicality.

[2] Soon afterwards, Gușă, together with two other deputies, resigned from the PD leadership[4] and founded the National Initiative Party (PIN); he sat as an independent for the remainder of his term.

[10][11] Gușă has himself held presidential ambitions, announcing he would run in the event the 2007 referendum to impeach Băsescu (which he backed, citing "serious constitutional violations" by the President) had succeeded.