Gavin Newsom

Subterms

    More stories

    • 138 Shares159 Views

      in US Politics

      California governor’s ad campaign offers help to women in anti-abortion states

      by

      California governor’s ad campaign offers help to women in anti-abortion statesBillboards will be displayed in states including Texas, Mississippi and Ohio but have some questioning Gavin Newsom’s ambitions “Need an abortion? California is ready to help.”That’s one of the billboard advertisements that California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, is paying to display across seven of America’s most aggressively anti-abortion states, including Texas, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina and South Dakota.The advertising blitz in states outside California is being funded by Newsom’s re-election campaign for governor – Newsom is expected to easily win re-election in November in his deep blue state. But the move is renewing questions about the Democratic politician’s national ambitions.Democrats call Indiana’s near-total abortion ban a ‘death sentence’ Read moreA recent poll found that the majority of California voters do not think Joe Biden should run for re-election in 2024, and that Newsom was one of the leading contenders to replace him.The California governor has repeatedly denied having any interest in running for president, while simultaneously paying for high-profile ad campaigns in states outside the one in which he is running for office. In July, he launched a television ad campaign in Florida, where the Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, is considered a leading replacement for Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential race, focused on the state’s attacks against LBGTQ+ people, book bans and abortion restrictions.This week, Newsom also asked the US attorney general to investigate the governors of Texas and Florida for transporting migrants across the country to wealthy Democratic enclaves such as Washington DC, and Martha’s Vineyard, in what has widely been criticised as a political stunt.What @GovRonDeSantis and @GregAbbott_TX are doing isn’t clever, it’s cruel.I’m formally requesting the DOJ begin an immediate investigation into these inhumane efforts to use kids as political pawns. pic.twitter.com/x2sBa06nSw— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 15, 2022
      The messaging in many of Newsom’s new abortion ads is sharply critical of Republicans’ successful efforts to ban abortion, with phrases like, “Texas does not own your body. You do,” and an image of a woman with her hands cuffed behind her back.The 18 billboards point viewers to a new California state-funded website, abortion.ca.gov, which offers guidance on how people outside California can access abortion care in the state, an effort that Planned Parenthood’s California affiliate praised as a good model for increasing abortion access.“Here is my message to any woman seeking abortion care in these anti-freedom states: come to California,” Newsom said in a statement announcing the campaign, saying that abortion bans “are literally killing women”.On his personal Twitter account, Newsom launched the ad campaign by tagging seven anti-abortion Republican governors in tweets showing images of the billboards.“The people of Mississippi deserve to know they have access to the care you are refusing to provide. This will be launching in your state today,” he told the Mississippi governor, Tate Reeves.@tatereeves the people of Mississippi deserve to know they have access to the care you are refusing to provide. This will be launching in your state today. pic.twitter.com/8qg7psYT2j— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 15, 2022
      The Newsom campaign noted that it expects the Mississippi billboards could face a legal challenge in the state. A spokesperson for Reeves told the Washington Post that it was “interesting to see Governor Newsom’s 2024 primary campaign extend to Mississippi” and that they thought most residents “will not be interested in what he’s selling”.Newsom himself told the Washington Post that he had launched the abortion ad campaign “because the people that support my candidacy support this. And when many heard about this, they wanted to support additional efforts like it, to be fully transparent with you.”Polls show that Newsom is expected to cruise to victory over his little-known Republican opponent in the California governor’s race this November, after triumphing over an expensive attempt to recall him as governor in 2021.TopicsCaliforniaAbortionGavin NewsomUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

    • 188 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      Newsom airs Florida ad urging people to fight for freedom – or move to California

      by

      Newsom airs Florida ad urging people to fight for freedom – or move to California‘Freedom is under attack in your state,’ California governor says in ad paid for by his re-election campaign that aired on Fox News Governor Gavin Newsom of California has aired a commercial in Florida over the Fourth of July holiday weekend urging residents there to fight for freedom, or move to his state in order to find it.The ad – which pits blue state California against currently red state Florida – exemplified the growing divides in the US as Republican-led state legislatures have pursued rightwing policies on a slew of issues from banning abortion to attacking LGBTQ+ rights and voting issues.As Trump’s star wanes, another rises: could Ron DeSantis be the new Maga bearer?Read more“Freedom is under attack in your state,” California’s Democratic leader said in the punchy advertisement, paid for by Newsom’s re-election campaign and aired on the rightwing Fox News channel.“Republican leaders – They’re banning books, making it harder to vote, restricting speech in classrooms, even criminalizing women and doctors. I urge all of you to join the fight, or join us in California, where we still believe in freedom.”Newsom appeared to be taking jabs at Florida’s far-right governor, Ron DeSantis, and his recent efforts to disenfranchise voters, chip away at the civil rights of LGBTQ+ communities, and restrict access to abortion. It’s a picture of the current political landscape in America: two state leaders on opposite coasts of the country with directly conflicting ideologies.But Newsom’s strategy of fighting fire with fire is one not typically seen from the country’s democratic party.While Newsom has ruled out any interest in running for president in the near future, some speculate DeSantis, a Trump favorite and fellow rightwinger, will bid for the Republican party’s presidential nomination in 2024. In April, after DeSantis signed the “don’t say gay” bill into law, books were banned across the state. Florida’s department of education has also rejected 41% of math textbooks they believed were pushing ideologies like critical race theory or social and emotional learning in order to “indoctrinate students”.Last year, DeSantis also signed more restrictive voting measures into law, like limiting ballot drop-box hours and requesting mail-in ballots every year, instead of every four years. DeSantis said the restrictions will curb voter fraud, despite little evidence there is such a problem.And after the supreme court overturned landmark case Roe vs Wade, which gave US citizens the constitutional right to an abortion, DeSantis signed a law into effect banning abortions after 15 weeks without exception for rape or incest. A state judge temporarily blocked the law, calling it unconstitutional. But a spokesperson for DeSantis said the state plans to appeal the ruling.By contrast, Newsom signed a bill protecting abortion providers in his state from liability or prosecution for providing out-of-state abortions. California lawmakers also voted to ask voters on their November ballots to add an amendment to the state’s constitution that would explicitly protect reproductive rights.TopicsGavin NewsomFloridaCaliforniaFox NewsRon DeSantisUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

    • 138 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      California voters send mixed messages in high-stakes races amid low turnout

      by

      California voters send mixed messages in high-stakes races amid low turnoutThemes of inequality, crime, and rising cost of living dominated races, but experts say, turnout a stark sign of political apathy Voters in California returned mixed messages in the state’s midterm primary elections on Tuesday, casting ballots in a series of high-stakes races that were dominated by themes of inequality, crime, and the rising cost of living.Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor, cruised to an easy victory in this deep blue state, advancing to the November general election, where he will be an overwhelming favorite to win a second term.In Los Angeles, the Democratic congresswoman Karen Bass and the billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso qualified for the final vote in November to fill the mayor’s seat.And in San Francisco, residents voted to recall the high-profile progressive district attorney, Chesa Boudin, who was elected in November 2019 on an agenda of criminal justice reform but faced intensifying backlash from law enforcement, conservatives and residents concerned about crime.In a year when they are on the defensive nationwide, Democrats were expected to perform well in the Golden state on Tuesday, outnumbering Republicans 2-to-1 and holding huge majorities in the legislature and congressional delegation.In races up and down the state, crime, policing, the growing humanitarian crisis of homelessness and record gas prices had emerged as central issues. Still, Tuesday’s primary was marked by low turnout, in what experts say is a stark sign of political apathy considering all registered voters in California were mailed a ballot.The turnout left analysts to debate whether the results should be seen as a bellwether of Democratic voters’ broader views on crime and policing. Some more centrist political consultants argued the results were a warning to Democrats to avoid progressive stances on reforming the criminal justice system. Others said the results reflected the media’s coverage of crime and a successful rightwing playbook, more than the reality on the streets.Less than a year after a recall campaign tried to force him from office, Newsom obliterated a field of 25 other candidates with about 59% of the votes. The Democrat will face Republican Brian Dahle, a state senator from the sparsely populated north-east corner of the state, in November.Newsom has been campaigning on a progressive agenda, pitching California as a bulwark against conservative legislation spearheaded by Republicans nationwide.He has vowed to make California a sanctuary for women from other states seeking abortions and has pushed for a new law that would let people sue gun makers and sellers to enforce a ban on some assault weapons.Jessica Levinson, a political commentator and election law professor at Loyola Marymount University, was blunt in her assessment of Dahle’s chances: “The proverbial snowball has a better chance in hell,” she said.Boudin, a former public defender and the son of two leftwing Weather Underground radicals who spent decades in prison for a fatal heist, was one of the most prominent prosecutors in the US fighting to undo the damage of harsh punishments in a country that locks up more people per capita than any other.But he had faced growing headwinds from critics, blaming him for crime, violence, homelessness, retail thefts and other challenges that escalated in the city during the pandemic.Echoing national trends, San Francisco had seen an increase in homicides in past years, though analysts noted overall violent crime decreased during the pandemic, and many categories of crime were down under Boudin’s tenure. But the recall campaign tapped into growing frustration among some voters, and had a huge financial advantage, backed by ultra-wealthy donors.In a speech to his supporters on Tuesday night, Boudin struck a defiant tone, noting that progressive candidates were winning or leading in their races in other parts of California and the US: “The movement that got us elected in 2019 is alive and well. We see the results from coast to coast, from north to south.”In Los Angeles, voters’ decision to send Bass and Caruso to a runoff sets up a race that will present residents in the second largest US city with starkly different options for the future.Bass came to prominence as a progressive community activist in South Central Los Angeles and rose to become the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. She said that she had decided to run for mayor in part because of her concerns that voters’ frustrations over homelessness and high-profile property crimes might lead to the same kind of punitive, damaging policies that California politicians and voters endorsed during the 1990s.Caruso, a luxury mall developer with an an estimated net worth of $4bn, ran with a pledge to “clean up” Los Angeles. His campaign focused on crime and disorder, pledging to strengthen and expand the city’s police department and vowing to aggressively crack down on homeless encampments.Street activist, congresswoman – mayor? Karen Bass reaches for LA’s top jobRead moreCaruso poured more than $38m of his own fortune into his campaign through early June. He was backed by celebrity endorsements from Gwyneth Paltrow, Snoop Dogg, Kim Kardashian and Elon Musk.At his election night party at the Grove, one of his shopping malls, Caruso said the voters supporting him were sending a clear message: “We are not helpless in the face of our problems. We will not allow the city to decline,” the Los Angeles Times reported.Bass told supporters on Tuesday night: “We are in a fight for the soul of our city, and we are going to win,” the Times reported.In another high-profile race, California’s state attorney general, Rob Bonta, a progressive who has backed reform efforts, advanced to the general election, with early results showing he held a substantial lead over three challengers with more conservative platforms.Levinson, the Loyola Law School professor, predicted that Bonta would win in November despite his challengers’ attempts to tap into Californians’ growing unease on crime.“Because this is not just about prosecuting crime, which mostly happens on the county level,” she said. “This is about what is going to be our legal policy with respect to reproductive rights, what’s going to be our legal policy with respect to second amendment rights, what’s going to be our policy with respect to immigration?”The Associated Press contributed to this reportTopicsCaliforniaGavin NewsomUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

    • 138 Shares179 Views

      in US Politics

      California governor skipped Cop26 to spend more time with his kids

      by

      CaliforniaCalifornia governor skipped Cop26 to spend more time with his kidsAfter canceling his trip for ‘family obligations’, Gavin Newsom said he chose to take his children trick-or-treating Dani Anguiano and agencies@dani_anguianoWed 10 Nov 2021 15.14 ESTLast modified on Wed 10 Nov 2021 15.31 ESTCalifornia’s governor made his first public appearance in nearly two weeks on Tuesday, after days of mounting speculation about his decision to abruptly cancel a trip to Cop26 and largely recede from public view.Gavin Newsom said he chose to take his children trick-or-treating on Halloween rather than travel to Scotland to discuss the climate crisis with world leaders, explaining his decision was driven by the simple desire of a working parent to spend more time with his kids.Newsom’s comments, delivered Tuesday at an economic summit in Monterey, came after increasing media coverage and criticism from Republicans about his whereabouts and what he was doing. His last public event had been on 27 October when he got a coronavirus booster shot. Two days later his office issued a brief statement saying he was canceling his travel plans for unspecified “family obligations”.California town declares itself a ‘constitutional republic’ to buck Covid rulesRead moreHis staff would not answer questions about where he was or what he was doing for much of that time, sparking criticism from conservatives who spread rumors that Newsom was experiencing difficult side effects after his booster shot and rallied on social media around the hashtag #wheresgavin.Photos over the weekend published in Vogue showed Newsom attending the lavish wedding of Ivy Love Getty, the granddaughter of the late billionaire oil tycoon J Paul Getty, whose family members have been large donors to Newsom’s campaigns.Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Newsom’s wife, added to the intrigue on Sunday night with a since-deleted tweet telling people to “please stop hating and get a life”.But Tuesday, Newsom said his absence was nothing more than a chance to recharge with his family after a frenetic three years in office that included an unprecedented pandemic, record-breaking destruction from wildfires, a drought and fighting for his political life in only the second gubernatorial recall election in state history. Newsom beat back the recall in September and then spent the next several weeks considering hundreds of bills passed by the legislature.Newsom, who routinely has multiple public appearances each week, relishes his role as leader of the nation’s most populous state, which if it were its own country would have the world’s fifth-largest economy, making his absence after the sudden withdrawal from the climate conference so unusual.And the climate crisis is a signature issue for the governor, who many believe has aspirations of running for president some day. Attending the conference would have given him the opportunity to tout his climate change initiatives, which include banning sales of new gas-powered cars and trucks by 2035, and would raise his profile with world leaders. But as the trip neared, his children took the initiative, he said.“I’ve been on this damn treadmill, we’ve gone from crisis to crisis,” Newsom said. “The kids, literally, they kind of had an intervention. They said they couldn’t believe that I was going to miss Halloween.”Newsom said for his kids, who range in age from 5 to 12, missing Halloween is worse than missing Christmas. “I had no damn choice; I had to cancel that trip,” he said. Newsom’s comments earned applause from the audience and praise from his fellow Democrats in the state legislature, many of whom blamed the governor’s political opponents and the media for blowing the story out of proportion.Assemblyman Ash Kalra tweeted that had Newsom attended the conference, he would have been criticized “for traveling overseas instead of staying home attending to the state”.“He just can’t win,” Kalra said.Wesley Hussey, a political science professor at Sacramento State University, said Newsom could have prevented much of the fuss if he had simply said at the outset why he wasn’t attending the conference and taking a step back from public appearances.“I think this is an example of where the governor and his press operations need to be aware of social media and distortions and always being in front of the story,” he said. “I think we should know what the governor is up to and give the governor space when he needs family time. And I think that those can go together.”Neither the governor nor his representatives said why they didn’t offer details about Newsom’s whereabouts before this week. On Monday, Newsom’s office said the governor had been working in the Capitol on “urgent issues, including Covid-19 vaccines for kids, boosters, ports, the forthcoming state budget and California’s continued economic recovery”.When he emerged Tuesday, Newsom added details of his week out of the spotlight. He went to his childrens’ soccer tournament and took them trick-or-treating, having quickly found a pirate costume to join them. He said he brought his children to the Capitol last week, participating for the first time in tourist traditions like taking a selfie with the statue of a grizzly bear – the animal that appears on the state flag – outside the governor’s office.The children also got coloring books that are regular handouts from the senate president pro tempore’s office.“It’s been probably the most productive week I’ve had since I’ve been governor,” Newsom said.TopicsCaliforniaGavin NewsomCop26US politicsnewsReuse this content More

    • 138 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      California town declares itself a ‘constitutional republic’ to buck Covid rules

      by

      CaliforniaCalifornia town declares itself a ‘constitutional republic’ to buck Covid rulesOroville’s city council adopted a resolution stating it would oppose state and federal orders that it deems to be government overreach Dani Anguiano in Los Angeles@dani_anguianoFri 5 Nov 2021 06.00 EDTLast modified on Fri 5 Nov 2021 10.00 EDTA northern California town has declared itself a “constitutional republic” in response to Covid-19 health restrictions imposed by the governor, in the latest sign of strife between the state’s government and its rural and conservative regions.The city council in Oroville, located at the base of the Sierra Nevada foothills about 90 miles from the capital of Sacramento, adopted a resolution this week stating it would oppose state and federal orders it deems to be government overreach.Oroville leaders said the designation was a way of affirming the city’s values and pushing back against state rules it doesn’t agree with, although a legal expert said the designation was merely a gesture and did not grant the city any new authority.Religious exemptions threaten to undermine US Covid vaccine mandatesRead moreTensions have existed throughout the pandemic between the rural north and California’s leadership, which has been among the first to implement lockdowns, mask mandates and vaccination requirements.In Butte county, fierce opposition to Covid lockdowns and school closures drove support for recalling the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, with 51% of voters in the county backing the ultimately failed effort. Newsom’s policies, however, appear to have worked and the state had the lowest Covid infection rate in the US last month.Last year, Oroville refused to enforce state requirements prohibiting indoor dining. Butte county, where Oroville is located, declined to recommend a mask mandate earlier this fall, even as cases surged and a a local medical center reported treating more patients than at any other point during the pandemic.Before passing the resolution, council members argued they were taking a stand and advocating for residents to make their own health choices.“I assure you folks that great thought was put into every bit of this,” the city’s mayor, Chuck Reynolds, said. “Nobody willy-nilly threw something to grandstand.”But the city’s declaration does not shield it from following federal and state laws, said Lisa Pruitt, a rural law expert at the University of California, Davis, who said it was not clear what the designation meant.“A municipality cannot unilaterally declare itself not subject to the laws of the state of California,” Pruitt said. “Whatever they mean by constitutional republic you can’t say hocus pocus and make it happen.”Leaders in the city of 20,000 say the resolution is an effort to push back against state government and affirm the city’s values and commitment to the constitution. Oroville drafted its resolution from scratch after not finding any examples of other cities with similar resolutions, said Scott Thomson, the city’s vice-mayor.“I proposed it after 18 months of increasingly intrusive executive mandates and what I felt to be excessive overreach by our government,” said Thomson. “After the failed recall in California, our state governor seems to [be] on a rampage and the mandates are getting more intrusive. Now he’s going after our kids and schools.”The majority of speakers at the Oroville city council meeting expressed their support for their resolution – applauding its introduction and calling council members “heroes” – with several specifically citing the state’s vaccine requirement for schoolchildren.“We’re hoping that becoming a constitutional republic city is the best step in order to regain and maintain our inalienable rights protected by the constitution of the United States. What will be left if we don’t have that? if we don’t have bodily autonomy?” one speaker said in tears. “What else are they gonna want me to let them do to my kids? Where does it stop?”The resolution does not affect local schools, which fall under the purview of the school district, Thomson said, but is a way for the community to declare it will not use city resources to implement state rules it does not agree with. “We’re not ignorant that there are serious issues at hand, we just do not agree with the way it’s being handled.”One council member argued that mandates were “political theater” and that the immune system is the best defense against disease. The best protection against against Covid-19 is vaccination – Butte county has a vaccination rate of 48%, according to New York Times data.The council approved the resolution by a 6-1 vote on Tuesday, even as one member who voted in favor of it warned residents it had “no teeth” and was a “political statement”.The city’s efforts tap in to a common sentiment in rural northern California that the region is ignored, but also over-governed by the state, Pruitt said. Signs for the state of Jefferson, a movement to secede from California, are common here. But, Pruitt says, the city’s gesture does not grant it more power or the ability to ignore state law.“It seems to make the people of Oroville feel better that their city council has made this gesture but as a practical matter it doesn’t make any difference,” Pruitt said.TopicsCaliforniaCoronavirusUS politicsGavin NewsomnewsReuse this content More