In responding to a sequence of occasions largely past his management, Gov. Gavin Newsom has emerged as some of the highly effective governors in California historical past.
President Biden’s election allowed Newsom to reshape Democratic management within the state with a sequence of historic appointments. He named Alex Padilla as California’s first Latino U.S. senator when Kamala Harris stepped all the way down to change into vp; Shirley Weber because the state’s first Black secretary of state to switch Padilla; and Rob Bonta as the primary Filipino American California lawyer common when Xavier Becerra resigned to affix Biden’s Cupboard. Not for the reason that Nineteen Fifties had a governor named so many individuals to such heights of energy in only a few weeks’ time — and positively not with such a give attention to range.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Newsom gained extraordinary energy to handle the catastrophe with a statewide emergency order that’s nonetheless in place right this moment. It offers him broad authority to alter laws, droop legal guidelines and redirect cash, energy upheld by the state Supreme Court docket after it was challenged in a lawsuit filed by two Republican lawmakers. Newsom has largely wielded the ability responsibly, although most lecture rooms had been shuttered for too lengthy final yr and we want he’d required faculty districts to get college students again on campus sooner.
Backlash towards Newsom’s pandemic response led to the 2021 recall election, however Newsom emerged even stronger. He crushed the try and throw him out of workplace with assist from 62% of voters and coasted into this reelection yr. It’s clear that Newsom is working not simply to retain energy, however to place it to good use by passing progressive insurance policies in California and launching himself into nationwide politics as a spirited voice on the left.
Newsom has launched TV commercials in Florida, full-page newspaper advertisements in Texas and billboards in a number of different purple states to pitch California because the place for freedom whereas jabbing conservative states which can be yanking away abortion rights. It’s an unconventional reelection marketing campaign technique that displays Newsom’s uncommonly safe place. Republicans blew what little political forex they’ve on this blue state on the silly recall try final yr, leaving no marketing campaign infrastructure to mount a sturdy opposition to Newsom this time round.
His opponent on the Nov. 8 poll is GOP state Sen. Brian Dahle, who represents a rural district within the northeast nook of the state. Dahle is a revered legislator who has made uncommon strides to collaborate with Democrats throughout his decade within the state Capitol. He has a protracted resume of public service and is extra ready to control California than most candidates on the recall poll final yr.
However Dahle’s positions on key points put him out of step with most California voters. He opposes abortion and voted towards putting Proposition 1 on the poll to offer voters the possibility to enshrine the proper to abortion and contraception within the California Structure. He’s voted towards quite a few gun security payments. He twice supported Donald Trump for president and, till he received the first this yr, refused to denounce Trump’s “Huge Lie” that Biden’s election was fraudulent.
Newsom, in the meantime, is utilizing his elevated energy to nice impact in Sacramento. This yr he pushed the Legislature to cross an bold set of payments to curb local weather change, together with concepts which have surfaced yr after yr however by no means garnered sufficient assist to cross — even in a Capitol dominated by Democrats. The governor’s management was important to get sufficient lawmakers on board to cross laws banning new oil and fuel drilling close to properties and colleges, requiring larger reductions of greenhouse fuel emissions by 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
Amid a horrendous wave of mass shootings, Newsom threw his assist behind gun security laws. Following the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s horrible determination to overturn Roe vs. Wade, he signed quite a few payments to develop entry to abortion and put together California for an inflow of pregnant individuals from out of state in search of reproductive healthcare. And in a tacit acknowledgment that too many working Californians reside in poverty, Newsom authorized new legal guidelines that might increase wages for fast-food staff, make it simpler for farmworkers to type unions and permit extra low-income staff to take paid household depart.
He additionally pushed by means of a controversial plan to create a brand new court docket system to compel therapy for people who find themselves severely mentally unwell or hooked on medication, an try to handle the human distress apparent within the encampments proliferating on so many California streets and riverbanks and in freeway underpasses. We didn’t assist this plan, however now that it’s regulation Newsom should be sure that it’s carried out successfully by offering enough funding for therapy.
It was a profitable yr of lawmaking that capped an already daring set of adjustments Newsom put in place earlier in his time period. He’s authorized plans to offer preschool to all 4-year-olds by 2025 and medical health insurance to all low-income residents no matter immigration standing by 2024. He’s dedicated to closing two prisons and phasing out the sale of latest gas-powered vehicles.
All of this leads us to reiterate our endorsement within the main. Newsom has been a strong chief throughout an awfully troublesome time within the state’s and nation’s historical past. His legacy shall be decided by whether or not he can do greater than signal payments and stroll away. He should spend his subsequent time period making certain that his progressive imaginative and prescient for California turns into actuality. It won’t be simple, however as Newsom has mentioned many instances, “Program passing will not be downside fixing.”
One downside Newsom wants to resolve in his subsequent time period is the fallout from California’s legalization of hashish. He led the legalization marketing campaign in 2016 that promised to create a managed market accessible solely to adults, cut back the environmental hurt of unlawful pot farms, curb the ability of legal drug gangs and assist restore injury from the racist conflict on medication. However a Instances investigation exhibits that a lot of these guarantees have been damaged. Unlawful pot develop operations have proliferated, usually with staff going through violence and squalid circumstances. The competitors to enter the authorized marijuana market has led to a rash of corruption in native governments. Drug sellers who function unlawful dispensaries are nearly by no means prosecuted. Hashish legalization in California is an absolute mess.
Newsom has spent 4 years approving groundbreaking adjustments which have nice potential to make life higher on this state. He deserves a second time period to permit him to successfully perform his imaginative and prescient.