The results are in, and the people of California have decided to re-elect Gavin Newsom, with 63.9% voting “NO” to the recall, officially ending the effort to oust Newsom from office. Newsom took to Twitter to celebrate, saying: “Tonight, California voted NO on the recall and YES to… Science. Women’s rights. Immigrant rights. The minimum wage. The environment. Our future. We rejected cynicism and bigotry and chose hope and progress. Thank you, California.”
It was important for the Democratic party to snag a crucial win, especially since Newsom will have to run for re-election in 2022, and with his star rising there are mounting rumors that a presidential run could be in his future as well. This may provide a boost to Democrats who need a playbook for how to win in 2022, and it certainly provides a boost to the establishment Democrats in the deep blue California, but the real question remains, was this actually a good decision?
The celebrities would say so, as the elites in California poured millions of dollars into his war chest to defeat the recall, and they took to social media to celebrate their governor defeating an “unjust” recall, but the real question remains, what does it mean for the average person? Frankly, it wasn’t the best choice. Yes, he was able to triumph over the recall, but it’s not like he was the best governor, but in a state as blue as California, they almost always vote party line, just as a state like Texas or Oklahoma would vote for a Republican. Newsom still has the state under a lockdown and was able to use that to his advantage by making all votes mail-in, and he was also able to use the fear of Covid to his advantage by saying that his opponents would send California over a “Covid cliff” and urging Californians to stay safe and “follow the science” despite the fact that he never did. He has been seen dining indoors and without masks, and his family has been seen without masks as well, all while small businesses in California wither and die under his state lockdowns.
In fact, not only does he not follow his own rules, but due to his lockdowns, “…almost 40,000 California small businesses closed, the highest level in any state, according to data from Yelp released last year.” per Fortune.com. Newsom’s mandates have had disastrous effects on small businesses, but Silicon Valley and Hollywood remained virtually unfazed as they had enough money to fall back on while small businesses failed.
Despite being open with his intent to keep mandates and being strict with his Covid rules, he beat out the other challengers who were against more lockdowns and mandates, candidates who recognized the threat lockdowns and mandates posed to people and businesses. Such people included Democrat, Kevin Paffrath, and Republicans, Larry Elder, John Cox, and Kevin Faulconer, all of whom criticized Newsom’s leadership and hypocrisy during the pandemic and would allow personal choice over state enforced mandates. In spite of all of that, the people of California decided to re-elect him after he played on their Covid fears.
If the blinding fear of Covid is removed, Newsom hasn’t exactly done well as governor, California faces a staggering homelessness crisis, CNN reports that, “On any given night in California, the governor's office estimates that there are about 170,000 homeless people on the street.” Newsom’s homeless problem is nothing new, as he campaigned to help the homeless even when he was the mayor of San Francisco and still the problem worsens.
Another issue in Newsom’s California is the spike in violence that has occurred after many cities have passed measures to defund their police forces, falling in line with many other states that have done the same, and while Newsom says that he is against defunding the police, he hasn’t done anything to stop it from happening either. As a result of how he ran California, citizens are fleeing the state. The population loss has gotten so bad under Newsom that the state has lost an electoral vote and a state representative seat.
With all this in mind, it has become clear that the decision to keep Gavin Newsom as Governor wasn’t the smartest idea, especially since the state of California has become considerably less safe and more expensive to live in since he took over. People are leaving the state in droves, and that alone should have been a warning sign. Newsom’s term is up in 2022, and assuming he runs again, it may be time for his party to look in a different direction.
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