Dems focus on background, style as governor’s race kicks into gear
SACRAMENTO — Californians won’t pick their governor until November 2018, but one story line is emerging among the Democrats battling to replace termed-out Gov. Jerry Brown: Because they largely agree on the issues, the race to lead the world’s sixthlargest economy is likely turn more on style and biography.
The top four announced candidates for governor have been busy, collectively raising $20 million. The campaign kicked into a higher gear this weekend as they courted the more than 3,000 delegates and grassroots activists who filled the Sacramento Convention Center for the three-day California Democratic Party convention.
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom — the front-runner in early polls who has raised more ($13 million) than his next three competitors combined — hosted a nighttime party featuring DJ Jazzy Jeff and Common, and scooped ice cream at an LGBT benefit Saturday afternoon
with his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
His announced rivals, including state Treasurer John Chiang, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former state school Superintendent Delaine Eastin, were more low-key, barnstorming caucus meetings for women, Latinos, environmentalists and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists.
Meanwhile, two other potential candidates mull jumping into the race: billionaire San Francisco environmentalist Tom Steyer and state Senate leader Kevin de León of Los Angeles, who is termed out of office next year.
Here’s a look at what other Democrats were doing at the convention: John Chiang: Though he has been elected to two statewide offices, Chiang playfully acknowledged that his jobs, while important — being state controller and treasurer, his current gig — are not the most high-profile positions.
As he moved through the convention this weekend, Chiang revealed a self-deprecating humor that he hopes will help him challenge two big personality, big city mayors.
“I’m sexy. I’m fascinating,” Chiang said, before turning serious. “I think most people relate that I’m a good, decent guy who is ‘older brother John,’ their next-door neighbor who really works hard, who takes care of them. People like people they’re comfortable with.”
The child of Taiwanese immigrants who was raised in suburban Chicago, Chiang’s family was one of few Asian American households in the neighborhood. Vandals spraypainted “gook” and other epithets on the family home.
Those experiences fuel his desire to protect California’s immigrants.
“For so many in our communities, especially those who are recent immigrants — they get left behind,” Chiang told the Chicano Latino caucus at the convention.
Insiders see Chiang as the sleeper candidate in the race. He’s raised nearly $5 million so far, second only to Newsom, and much of it by tapping into a network of Asian American donors he has cultivated over the past two decades. Antonio Villaraigosa: Ata mini-gubernatorial candidates forum sponsored by Latino Democrats at the convention, the moderator asked: “Trump: How are you going to take him on?”
When it was Villaraigosa’s turn, he opened with a phrase that is central to his campaign: “I’ve got a track record.”
“I took on Pete Wilson,” Villaraigosa told the audience, recalling how he helped register a million Latino voters during the Republican governor’s terms in the 1990s, which included attempts to push anti-immigrant legislation for those entering the country illegally.
Villaraigosa’s worldview was shaped by a difficult childhood. His father was an alcoholic who beat his mother and left the family when Villaraigosa was 5. He was tossed out of one high school and dropped out of another before a teacher spotted something in him. He was accepted under affirmative action guidelines to UCLA — a move that put him on a track that led him to being speaker of the Assembly and later, mayor.
The theme of his campaign is “the two Californias.” While the economy is booming in much of the Bay Area and other coastal regions, many parts of inland California remain mired in poverty.
“This party has to look inside its soul,” said Villaraigosa said. “This economy is rigged. It’s not working for enough people.”
Delaine Eastin: The former Bay Area legislator and state schools chief is a late arrival to the governor’s race. Although she started talking about a run last year, she didn’t officially open her campaign until late February.
It wasn’t an easy decision for someone who has been out of elective office for more than 14 years, when she ended her second term as superintendent of public instruction.
“Honestly, I’ve been watching from the sidelines for some time and getting more and more upset,” Eastin said.
Education at all levels is the go-to issue for her campaign, which is no surprise for a woman who has a Union City elementary school named for her.
“Budgets are statements of our values,” she said. “If we can build a sexy, high-speed rail system and prisons, we can figure out how to pay for universal preschool.”
The 69-year-old Eastin, who now lives in Davis, was born in San Diego and grew up in the Bay Area.
At the convention Friday, Eastin was on the move with a lean entourage, dropping by meetings of Democratic interest groups and giving them what they wanted to hear.
“I wrote the biggest landfill cleanup bill in California history,” she told the environmental caucus, adding that she was a lifetime member of the Sierra Club and every other environmental group.
“And of course we should ban fracking in California,” Eastin told the cheering crowd before putting her signature on a prominently displayed sign where she and other candidates for governor pledged not to take contributions of more than $200 from the oil industry and to put “Californians’ public health over oil industry profits.”
This race “is going to be a heavy lift,” Eastin said. As of last week, Eastin had only raised about $60,000 for her campaign.
“I was never supposed to win any of my races,” she said. “All I can do is work hard, build my social media and don’t stop trying.”
Gavin Newsom: It’s a different situation for Newsom, who announced his run for governor in February 2015, just weeks after he was sworn in for a second term in the state’s No. 2 spot. After an aborted — and quickly redirected — run for governor in 2010, the former San Francisco mayor figured he wouldn’t fool anyone by saying he still hadn’t decided about his plans for 2018.
In that time, Newsom has helped push the successful ballot measure to legalize marijuana in the state and backed another measure to toughen the state’s gun laws.
While recognizing that he and Brown had their disagreements early on, Newsom, 50, now has plenty of praise for the governor, who he says did an exemplary job of “triaging the state” and pulling California up from looming fiscal disaster.
“The governor established one principle that is profoundly important,” the lieutenant governor said. “He proved you don’t have to be profligate to be progressive.”
As governor, Newsom said, his focus would be on economic development, trying to make sure all parts of California share in any economic good times.
“We’re looking at building people’s skills, not just at development,” he said. “We’re going to focus on growing the economy and making that growth inclusive. We can’t be ideological.”
Newsom was born in San Francisco and grew up in Marin County, where he now lives with his wife and their four children. He was elected mayor in 2003, re-elected four years later and resigned with a year left in his term after being elected lieutenant governor.
Visibility isn’t a problem for Newsom, who was everywhere over the weekend, speaking to delegates, reporters and anyone who would stand still long enough. After years in local and statewide offices, Newsom also is no stranger to the little hiccups that dog every politician.
For example, when his microphone started to cut in and out as he was speaking to the rural caucus, Newsom had a quick response.
“Not only do I recognize that this mike is not working, but I know that Sacramento isn’t working either,” he said.
“For so many in our communities, especially those who are recent immigrants — they get left behind.” John Chiang, state treasurer
“This party has to look inside its soul. This economy is rigged. It’s not working for enough people.” Antonio Villaraigosa, former Los Angeles mayor
“If we can build a sexy, high-speed rail system ... we can figure out how to pay for universal preschool.” Delaine Eastin, former Assemblywoman and ex-state schools chief
“We’re going to focus on growing the economy and making that growth inclusive. We can’t be ideological. ” Gavin Newsom, California lieutenant governor