Does Gavin Newsom have a shot in 2024?
'The Next Revolution' panelists discuss whether California Gov. Gavin Newsom would perform well as a Democratic candidate for president in 2024.
Make no mistake — Gavin Newsom is running for president. He has led a gilded life and becomes more liberal with each passing day. Along the way, his policies have dangerously failed, and those failures should not be visited upon the rest of the nation.
Newsom has been a supervisor, a mayor, a lieutenant governor and now governor of California. In 2018, the Sacramento Bee ran this article: "The privileged candidate: Why do we let Gavin Newsom get away with this?" noting his class, wealth and connection privileges, including the billionaire Getty family, Nancy Pelosi and Jerry Brown. Those connections paved the way for his political success — not Newsom’s ability.
As San Francisco mayor, total homelessness (sheltered and unsheltered) rose. Newsom also admitted that "I’ve failed you. We’ve seen an increase in homicides since I’ve been mayor and I need to reconcile that." Rather than solve problems, Newsom's 2003 mayoral campaign manager said, "He was very good at seeing where the parade was going and getting out in front of it."
That remains true today. California is besieged with many crises while Newsom touts the "California way." Yes, Newsom inherited some of those problems. None have been solved, however, and some are worse. Here is a partial list:
A small stream runs through the dried, cracked earth of a former wetland near Tulelake, California, on June 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard, File)
1. The arrogant liar: Newsom famously dined at an elite restaurant during his emergency COVID-19 shutdown. He claimed he was following his own guidelines, but the pictures dispelled that lie. During his public-school shutdown, he falsely claimed he was still a "Zoom" school parent while his children were actually attending private school in person. Meanwhile, while California has banned state-funded travel to 22 states because of their alleged "anti-LGBTQ+ policies," Newsom hypocritically vacations in one of them.
2. Crisis of poverty: From 2013 to today, California has been No. 1 in the country in poverty, including child poverty, "according to the census’ Supplemental Poverty Measure." Whatever else you read about California, including its $300 billion budget this year, that poverty alone is an indictment of the California way and highlights Newsom’s failures.
3. Homelessness: Two years after Newsom was elected Governor, as of "January 2020, California had an estimated 161,548 experiencing homelessness on any given day." Then it got worse. According to HUD, "California’s homeless population increased 7% from 2020 to 2021."
4. Out-of-control crime: San Francisco’s DA was just recalled for being soft on crime. As San Francisco Mayor, Newsom appointed the current Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon to be San Francisco’s DA. Now spiraling crime in Los Angeles has fueled a recall against him, but Newsom claims he doesn’t "know" enough about Gascon's job performance.
As for California overall, years of "reform" under Prop 47, that downgrades the penalties for thefts under $950, led a Democrat Assemblyman to state: "We are watching an epidemic of theft caused by Proposition 47 that overpromised and under delivered, which has quite literally, turned California into the Wild Wild West." Meanwhile, homicides jumped 31% in 2020 and in a state where nearly half the voters are Democrats, "78% of registered voters said crime has increased over the past year, and 65% said it’s worsened in their local areas."
5. Health crises: California is on the front line of the fentanyl crisis and the marijuana health crisis. In 2020, nearly three times as many died in San Francisco because of illicit drugs, including fentanyl, than COVID-19. Meanwhile, a "recent CNN investigation found that more Fresno County residents died of meth overdoses in 2020 than homicides or suicides; one- or two-vehicle crashes; and fire, falls and drowning combined."
Beyond that, "California, hospital admissions for cannabis-related complications have shot up – from 1,400 in 2005 to 16,000 by 2019." Illegal cannabis sales are double legal sales and, in California joins the other 18 legalized cannabis states that have "rates of addiction are nearly 40 per cent higher than states without legal cannabis."
6. The rest of the serious crises: California suffers from a perennial water shortage — largely because Newsom sides with environmentalists blocking new water storage despite voter-approved bonds. California is the only state that endures a deadly fire season every year, in part because politicians and bureaucrats blocked proper management of forests and wooded areas, including those near power lines. The supply-chain crisis has a home — it’s the California ports and Newsom has been AWOL on the issue. Despite calling it "jaw dropping," Newsom has not committed any serious dollars to the problem despite the state’s $300-billion budget.
Flames consume a home on Triangle Road as the Oak Fire burns in Mariposa County, California, on Saturday, July 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
A 2022 study found that "California’s school system ranks at #44 in the United States."
California’s number one export may well be people and jobs. I wrote as much in 2020. According to a 2022 article from the Public Policy Institute of California, "California appears to be on the verge of a new demographic era" — population declines. Further, "nearly 300 corporations have moved their headquarters out of California since the beginning of 2018, according to Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. The pace of this exodus accelerated in 2021, with 2020s total of 74 HQ relocations from California." Much of the reason relates to California ranking 49th in The Tax Foundation’s 2021 State Business Tax Climate Index.
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Finally, California has a staggering debt crisis that limits its future. In 2018, in my article, "The Top Four Reasons California Is Unsustainable," I wrote that "According to a January 2017 study, "California state and local governments owe $1.3 trillion as of June 30, 2015." Another study says it is actually $2.3 trillion and a recent Hoover Institute stated that there is over $1 trillion in pension liability alone, or $76,884 per household. That has only become worse. Stunningly, "Nearly one in nine Californians is a member of a public pension program," and growing, according a public policy analysis. You can add infrastructure debt to that as well, believed to be approaching $800 billion by some. So, it can be no surprise, that, in 2021, California ranked 42nd in fiscal health in the Truth in Accounting rankings.
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That is the person running for president. He solves nothing. He makes problems worse either by his own policies, his social justice crusades, and/or his failure to lead. So, what has he done well?
As Newsom's 2003 mayoral campaign manager said of Newsom, "He was very good at seeing where the parade was going and getting out in front of it." The problem is Newsom believes that parade is leading to the presidency.
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