SACRAMENTO — When he was operating for governor in 2017, Gavin Newsom tapped into the simmering rage of California liberals, at one level boasting on the marketing campaign path: “You need resistance to Donald Trump? Boy, convey it on, Donald.”
That swagger helped Newsom cruise to election in 2018 and crystallized his fame as a nationwide chief of the anti-Trump resistance.
Whether or not California’s subsequent governor will observe Newsom’s lead is much less clear.
The crowded field of Democrats operating to succeed Newsom in 2026, and others weighing campaigns, are nonetheless triangulating how finest to place themselves in opposition to President-elect Trump — and whether or not that’s a posture that California voters even need.
Some candidates have echoed Newsom with a strident tone. The week Trump was reelected, Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, who’s contemplating a run for governor, stood in entrance of the Golden Gate Bridge and vowed use “the complete pressure of the regulation” to defend Californians in opposition to the brand new administration.
“If Trump assaults your rights: I’ll be there,” Bonta stated. “If Trump comes after your freedoms: I’ll be there. If Trump jeopardizes your security and well-being: I’ll be there.”
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, who entered the governor’s race last year, stated the state would struggle any efforts by the Trump administration to undo LGBTQ+ pupil protections or dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. And Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis promised in a social media publish that California will “by no means waver in our safety of the liberty to manage our our bodies, to marry who we love and to create alternatives for immigrants and ALL our households.”
The slight rightward shift of California’s voters this yr has given different candidates pause. Preliminary election outcomes counsel that a number of counties gained by President Biden in 2020 tilted towards Trump this yr, together with San Bernardino County in Southern California, Butte County in Northern California, and a broad swath of the San Joaquin Valley by way of Merced, Fresno and Stanislaus counties, a Instances evaluation reveals.
Voters additionally handed resounding losses to the criminal justice reform movement, voting Dist. Attys. George Gascón and Pamela Value out of workplace and approving a tough-on-crime poll initiative with overwhelming assist.
“Is firing up the Trump resistance actually the correct transfer given what has simply occurred?” stated Sarah Anzia, a political scientist and public coverage professor at UC Berkeley. “I’d assume this might name for some introspection and consideration of why Trump has grown in reputation in a state like this.”
Former state controller Betty Yee, who entered the gubernatorial race in March, has pointed in fundraising emails to the state’s “shift towards Trump.” Because the statewide vote continues to be tallied, the shift seems to be simply shy of 5 factors; Biden gained 63.5% of California voters in 2020. Harris presently has 58.6%.
“That’s a reasonably important slide proper, and whereas it’s simple to chalk up the votes of hundreds of thousands of Californians to hate or falling for Trump’s deception, the very fact is that extra younger individuals and extra Black and Latino households voted for Trump than ever earlier than,” Yee wrote.
In one other message, she wrote that “Latinos of all ages, and younger individuals — the literal way forward for California, two teams that politicians have leaned on for many years — turned away from the Democratic Celebration in a traditionally poor exhibiting this election.”
Navigating these refined shifts within the citizens could also be difficult, nevertheless, and overcorrecting too far to the correct could show simply as treacherous.
Though he carried out higher in California in 2024 than 2020, Trump stays very unpopular with most Golden State voters. Traditionally, the occasion not within the White Home additionally makes large features within the subsequent normal election — which shall be 2026, when Californian’s will elect a brand new governor. So attacking Trump could also be fruitful.
Toni Atkins, the previous state senate chief who’s amongst a half-dozen candidates who’ve launched their 2026 gubernatorial campaigns, described the give attention to Trump as a form of essential evil.
Everyone seems to be leaping on “the anti-Trump bandwagon,” she stated, which is a distraction from main California points such because the rising value of dwelling — however crucial to the state’s ethos.
Atkins was the chief of the state Senate through the first Trump administration, and led the marketing campaign for Proposition 1, which enshrined abortion rights within the state structure after the Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
She stated Trump’s reelection adjustments “the entire nature of this run for governor.”
“We should be nervous about what it means for California,” she stated, “as a result of he got here at us the primary time.”
State Sen. Toni Atkins, proper, speaks throughout a governor’s candidate discussion board in San Francisco in September alongside Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who can also be operating to switch Gavin Newsom.
(Josh Edelson / For The Instances)
California sued the federal authorities more than 100 times through the first Trump administration, difficult the president’s authority on immigration, healthcare, training, gun management, client safety, the census, the U.S. Postal Service, civil rights points and different subjects.
On the marketing campaign path, Trump has lately derided Newsom as “Newscum” and referred to as California and its Democratic leaders “radical left lunatics.” He’s additionally zeroed in on a number of the state’s highest-profile leaders, together with Senator-elect Adam Schiff and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, calling them “enemies from inside.”
However California nonetheless wants the White Home’s assist in lots of areas, together with medical insurance for low-income residents that requires federal healthcare waivers, and emergency catastrophe funding throughout pure disasters like wildfires.
In a poll carried out by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Research and co-sponsored by The Instances in late October, greater than half of registered voters stated that they had no desire among the many candidates who’ve already entered the race. Amongst those who do, their favorites haven’t but introduced their campaigns.
U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine), who has not stated whether or not she is going to run, could be the primary or second alternative of 13% of voters, the poll found. Two Republicans stated to be weighing campaigns, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and state Sen. Brian Dahle, who ran in opposition to Newsom in 2022, have been the primary or second alternative of 12% and 11% of registered voters, respectively.
Kounalakis and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa every have 7% assist, and so does Well being and Human Companies Secretary Xavier Becerra, who has not stated whether or not he’ll run. Republican commentator Steve Hilton, additionally stated to be weighing a bid, could be the primary or second alternative of 6% of voters.
Thurmond, Atkins and Yee had assist from fewer than 5% of registered voters.
Whereas the political atmosphere for the 2026 marketing campaign seems to be in flux, there could also be classes from the final time Californians picked a governor whereas Trump was within the White Home.
In 2018, Villaraigosa ran a marketing campaign that hewed towards the center, specializing in equal entry to training, fiscal restraint and his robust document as mayor on supporting regulation enforcement and defending the atmosphere. Newsom campaigned on a bedrock liberal and costly agenda, together with proposals for a state-sponsored healthcare system, common preschool and elevated funding for increased training.
Villaraigosa didn’t make it out of the first. Newsom gained back-to-back phrases.
