New York Magazine calls the California governor’s race “an unholy mess.” National political columnist Rueben Navarette says the race is “cursed,” explaining, “there is a weird vibe surrounding the contest” that features such a weak, colorless field of Democrats.
“The California curse starts with candidates who give new meaning to the term “mediocre,” writes Navarette.
The most recent Democratic poll, commissioned by the state Democratic Party and conducted by the firm Evitarus, shows former Biden Secretary of Health and Human Services, Democrat Xavier Becerra, trailing former Fox News analyst, Republican Steve Hilton, 22% to 21%. Former hedge fund manager and mega-billionaire Tom Steyer is sitting at 15% after spending $193 million of his own money. Steyer’s self-funding surpasses the previous self-funding record of $150 million spent by former Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman in 2010.
Incredibly, the field went downhill from there.
Former Rep. Katie Porter received 7% support among likely voters, while San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan captured 4%, a slight drop for both candidates. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Superintendent of California schools Tony Thurmond trail at 1%. All four candidates refuse to drop out and endorse someone else, a sure sign that the Democrats are in disarray and failing to unite in the face of Hilton’s challenge.
Democrats are asking how the colorless, kind of dumb Becerra will likely be their nominee in the November election?
As far as the “kind of dumb” moniker, you decide.
Becerra opened an interview with KTLA’s Annie Rose Ramos last week, trying to lecture her on what kind of report she was going to do on him.
“By the way, this is a profile piece, this is not a gotcha piece, right?” he asked, before being told it was a profile and that the reporter would like to get on with the interview. “The way I describe profile is you talk about all the things that I’ve done, things I want to do, and along with some tough questions. But not only tough questions,” he added.
Yeah. Dumb.
“An extremely common refrain I hear from […] politicians, junkies, and civilians is, ‘I can’t believe this is the field,’” said Brian Brokaw, a Democratic consultant in California.
Former Biden foreign policy advisor, Susan Rice, labeled Becerra’s griping about an interview before it began as “one of the most pathetic things I have ever seen.”
Perhaps Becerra is ahead because the other candidates are totally unacceptable. Former Rep. Eric Swalwell had to drop out because of numerous allegations that he groped female staff members. He might have been a paragon of virtue compared to the rest of the field.
Former congresswoman Katie Porter is another aspirant with baggage, namely that two videos, one of her yelling at a staff member and another of her ending an interview with a reporter over questions, raise concerns about her temperament. Porter has attempted to poke fun at the videos — despite serious criticism of the way she spoke to both people, including by ending a recent ad where she tells people to “please get out of my shot,” a reference to her yelling “get out of my f—- shot!” at a staffer.
Billionaire Tom Steyer is also running, and has donated $175 million to his own campaign. The money has kept him competitive, but it has also put a gigantic spotlight on his biggest vulnerability: The general distaste Democratic voters have right now for the ultra-wealthy. Our colleague Praveena Somasundaram wrote about this from San Jose, where Steyer told her, “The biggest challenge for me will be to convince people that somebody everybody’s trying to label as a billionaire actually cares about them.”
Dan Walters, a reporter and opinion columnist at the nonprofit news site CalMatters, offers an explanation for why this is the best the Democrats can do. It’s the best testament of one-party, Democratic governance in California you’re going to read.
Who wants to govern this hot mess?
California is essentially ungovernable. It has a multitude of pressing, almost existential issues that Newsom hasn’t been able to crack. The next governor is going to inherit a big fat mess on their plate: huge budget deficits, one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, housing shortages, more homeless people than any other state. We have the highest poverty in the country, according to the Census Bureau, when you use the alternative, more realistic measure that includes living costs. California’s living costs are out of sight; the median home price is $800,000. Nobody can afford that other than the really well-to-do, or people who got in early and built up equity. Rents are extremely high. There’s $6 gas. And even before Iran, it was $4.50, $5 gas. We have the highest gas taxes in the country and the highest income tax.
People have been leaving. We have not gained any population at all this decade. We have not actually had any net job gains this decade. People know this stuff. So you say, “Okay, I want to run for governor. Why?” It’s just a big pile of s**t that’s going to be left behind by Newsom when he walks out the door. It was the same pile of s**t he inherited from Jerry Brown, more or less. The homelessness problem wasn’t that bad then. But if anything, these things have gotten worse. They have not gotten any better.
Steve Hilton might win, but the Democratic Party supermajority in the legislature will remain. They will eat him alive and govern as if he doesn’t exist. When he vetoes their socialist nonsense, they will accuse him of being a racist or some other identity smear and override his vetoes.
As long as California voters continue to send clowns to Sacramento, they will keep getting the circus they voted for. One-party rule has created a pipeline of mediocrity, and until the electorate realizes that name recognition and self-funding aren’t substitutes for competence, California will remain exactly what it is: an unholy, ungovernable mess.
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