CALIFORNIA FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021, OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“IRONY: NEWSOM BREAKS UP THE BAY AREA
CLIQUE”
Alex Padilla’s taking the oath
of office as California’s junior U.S. senator marks a political landmark: it
ends the longest regional domination modern California political life has seen.
Since
Arnold Schwarzenegger left the governor’s office in early 2011, every major
statewide elective office had been held by San Francisco Bay Area Democrats,
several first anointed by former state Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor
Willie Brown.
The
ascent of Kamala Harris to the vice presidency triggered this sea change. Prior
to that Newsom, a former San Francisco mayor, was joined in high office by U.S.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, another former San Francisco mayor; former Sen. Harris,
a onetime district attorney of San Francisco, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a
San Francisco congresswoman.
Before Newsom became governor,
ex-Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown had just spent two terms in the state’s top
office, while ex-Marin County Supervisor Barbara Boxer spent 24 years as a
California senator, retiring in 2016 and giving way to Harris.
Newsom
broke up this ensemble when he chose Padilla, California’s secretary of state
for six years and before that a state assemblyman from the San Fernando Valley
area of Los Angeles. Padilla, an MIT graduate, once was the “boy wonder” of the
Los Angeles City Council.
Then,
to accent what he was doing, Newsom named Democratic Assemblywoman Shirley
Weber of San Diego to Padilla’s slot as California’s chief elections official.
Maybe
it took a former San Francisco mayor to ease the oversized influence of the Bay
Area on this state and nation, where two San Franciscans now stand Nos. 1 and 2
in the line of succession behind new President Joe Biden.
Newsom
didn’t approach it in terms of regional identity. Pressured to make Oakland’s
longtime Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee a senator, he went with Padilla, despite
the numerous Black women who lamented that Harris’ departure from the Senate
leaves it with no Black females. Instead, Newsom went with personal loyalty in
choosing Padilla, one of his earliest and most consistent backers while he spent
more than eight years seeking to become governor. There was also the fact that
Padilla, a Latino and more moderate than Lee, might be a stronger candidate for
election on his own next year.
For
sure, Padilla will face Democratic competition in that upcoming primary,
possibly from the likes of Burbank Congressman Adam Schiff, who spearheaded the
impeachments of Donald Trump; Silicon Valley Rep. Ro Khanna, a darling of the
Democratic left; Lee, current San Francisco Mayor London Breed or Los Angeles
Mayor Eric Garcetti, a perpetual short-lister for other big jobs who never
seems to land them. Orange County Congresswoman Katie Porter, Lt. Gov. Eleni
Kounalakis and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf also are possible entrants.
Schiff,
a hero to many Democrats, and Padilla are by far the best known in that group,
making Khanna, Breed, Lee and Schaaf longshots in any contest. This Senate seat
appears likely to stay with a non-Bay Area resident.
Many of
these folks could also be entrants in any race for Feinstein’s Senate spot, who
will be 91 when her term is up. If she serves out the term, several of them
would no doubt run to succeed her in 2024, even though Feinstein improbably set
up a reelection committee the other day.
What’s
evident now is that any of the prominent Southern California possibilities
would likely make a stronger statewide candidate next year or in 2024 than any
Bay Area figure.
That’s
a major change for the geographic tilt in California politics, one that could
become even more significant if the current recall drive aiming to oust Newsom
a year before his term is up should proceed to an election and succeed.
The
last major recall, against ex-Gov. Gray Davis, gave California its only
non-Democrat, non-Bay Area occupant of a top office since 2002, as movie
muscleman Arnold Schwarzenegger catapulted into office by that route.
Two San Diego area figures,
former Mayor Kevin Faulconer and businessman John Cox, a Donald Trump loyalist
beaten by Newsom in 2018, figure to be on that ballot if it arrives and either
could change the state’s politics even more than Newsom and Padilla already
have.
-30-
Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com.
His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough, The Most Promising Cancer Treatment
and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It" is now available in a soft
cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
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