Gavin Newsom is not asking for your vote. He doesn’t need it.
The first-term governor is up 20 points in the polls after defeating a recall attempt around this time last year. He has famously spent campaign cash on billboards in Texas and TV ads in Florida, but has spent little time or money directly boosting his California reelection bid.
“I think he has to be careful,” GOP consultant Rob Stutzman said of Newsom. “The last time we had a non-competitive reelection for [Gov. Jerry] Brown in 2014, a midterm Democratic presidential election, it was a rough year for Democrats. That was their worst election of the decade in California.” “I was out of state for a few hours to take on his party and a leader of his party, Donald Trump, who is a passionate supporter of what they’re doing to democracy,” Newsom said of Republicans. “So I’ll proudly and happily stand up.”, made no mention of his reelection.
abortion measure, Proposition 1, hoping that will drive Democrats to the ballot box. He’s also thrown his weight around other measures — coming out against an electric vehicle proposition that he says would unfairly benefit the main backer, rideshare company Lyft, and another that would legalize online sports betting.
Reaching California’s 40 million residents, who are spread across 163,000 square miles, requires a sizable warchest. The Republican who ran against Newsom in 2018, multimillionaire John Cox, largely self-funded his campaign, and still didn’t come close to winning.“Look, it’s tough to raise money in California,” the GOP candidate told reporters at the Oct. 23 debate. “The power brokers are behind Gavin Newsom, and most people think this is a long shot.