CALIFORNIA FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2022, OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“NEWSOM GETS EASY PATH AS GOP SHOT
ITS WAD”
There
will be hot races up and down the California ballot in the June 7 primary
election and later in the November runoffs. But not in the highest-profile
races for the two most powerful jobs on the line this year.
Right now, mere weeks before the March
11 filing deadline, it appears Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom will have nothing
to fear either in the spring or fall. The same with U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a
Democrat appointed by Newsom after former Sen. Kamala Harris became vice
president.
Yes, there
will still be competition here and there. Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara
faces a serious challenge from fellow Democrat Marc Levine, a Marin County
assemblyman, and very likely another from former Commissioner Steve Poizner,
beaten by Lara in 2018.
Appointed
Attorney General Rob Bonta, named to his current job after Xavier Becerra left
to become President Biden’s secretary of Health and Human Services, will have
at least one major rival, Sacramento County’s longtime District Attorney Anne
Marie Schubert, running with no party preference.
The
openly gay Schubert is best known for using genetics to crack the Golden State
Killer case, seeing Joseph DeAngelo plead guilty in 2020 after being charged
with 13 murders and 13 rape-related offenses.
So there
are no guarantees of election or reelection to top statewide office this time,
unless your name is Newsom or Padilla. Newsom right now has no significant
declared opponent, while Padilla’s lone experienced challenger is Jerome
Horton, a former member of the state Board of Equalization and a fellow
Democrat.
Newsom
lack of significant challengers is the more unusual. Far-right talk show host
Larry Elder, who led would-be replacement governor candidates with 48.4 percent
of the vote in the September attempt to oust Newsom, has begged off another
race even though he said months ago he likely would run. But Newsom never had
reason to fear Elder, whose vote total last fall was far less than half the
number opting to retain Newsom.
Other
declared candidates include San Diego County businessman John Cox, twice beaten
by Newsom and the sixth-place finisher among wanna-be recall replacements. The
mostly self-funded Cox was best known for using a Kodiak bear as a campaign
prop last summer.
Also on
the Republican side is ex-San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who drew one-seventh
as many votes as Elder.
Other
possibilities include Democrat John Chiang, a former state treasurer who
dropped out of the 2018 race early, and Republican Kevin Kiley, an assemblyman
from the Sacramento suburbs who pulled a measly 3.5 percent of the recall
replacement vote.
None of
them spurs any fear in Newsom. That might explain some of his behavior over the
latter part of 2021. First came a last-moment pullout from a world climate
change meeting in Scotland, saying his family didn’t want him to leave at
Halloween. Trick or treating with the kids took precedence over an issue Newsom
calls existential.
Then he
took his family to Mexico for six days over Thanksgiving week, while flash mobs
conducted numerous smash-and-grab burglaries at high-end stores around the
state. Few other governors would have passed up the chance to grandstand as a
sympathetic law enforcement figure at a time like that, but Newsom again
preferred being with his wife and kids.
Later, he
was a no-show when other state officials using his authority reinstated
California’s indoor masking mandate just before Christmas. That contrasted
sharply with his behavior through the coronavirus pandemic’s first 18 months,
when he overexposed himself on television or the Internet almost daily with
Covid pronouncements others could have made.
If all
this means Newsom is coasting, taking his reelection for granted, it would be
understandable considering that he survived months of concerted attacks during
the recall campaign.
For sure,
there would be much more tension about this year’s campaign if the recall vote
had been closer or never taken place at all.
This also
leaves Newsom very few places to look if he wants political advancement. About
the only office that might interest him is the presidency, now occupied by a
fellow Democrat.
But it’s
doubtful Newsom would run against Harris in 2024 even if President Biden were
to step aside and she then sought to keep the job. Which goes far toward
explaining Newsom’s relaxed demeanor.
-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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