Gov. Newsom faces political challenges
Amid the partisan rancor over the presidential election, there’s more political drama developing in California involving Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state’s two U.S. senators.
It’s actually several developing and intersecting plot lines: one regarding an incipient recall campaign directed at Newsom and the appointment of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’s replacement in the Senate and the future for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, along with a bevy of expected appointments to high offices in the state.
For Harris’s seat, Newsom faces pressures from different constituencies that, as politics seem to go these days, revolve around race and ethnicity.
Since Harris is both a Black woman and Asian (her mother was from India and her father Jamaican), then the governor is being urged to appoint a Black female as her replacement.
But since California demographics show a state that is increasingly Latino, Newsom is facing pressure to appoint a Latino to the seat, most likely Secretary of State Alex Padilla.
Newsom may find himself in a precarious political position no matter where he turns. And, if he appoints Padilla, he’ll need to come up with someone to fill out the remainder of his term.
And it doesn’t stop there. The governor also would have to name a new state attorney general if Xavier Becerra is confirmed as health and human services secretary in the soonto-be Biden administration.
Then there is the delicate situation involving Feinstein, who at age 87 has faced new scrutiny regarding “cognitive decline” as portrayed in a recent New Yorker article. The story built upon several public episodes and quotes from unnamed sources who said Feinstein’s short-term memory has been fading to the point she often forgets she has been briefed on a topic, forgets what she has just said, and repeats questions at hearings she has already asked.
Feinstein already lost support on the progressive left when she failed, in their eyes, to put up much opposition to President Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court during Judiciary Committee hearings — and after the hearings concluded, hugged and praised Republican committee chairman Lindsey Graham.
Shortly after that, Feinstein gave up her seat on the Judiciary Committee, which is one of the most prestigious and powerful positions in the Senate
Feinstein, first elected in
1992, was reelected in 2018, amid questions about her effectiveness due to her age. Her term is not up until 2024. If indeed reports of her decline are true, it would hardly be surprising if she resigned before then, creating yet another opportunity for Newsom to shape California’s political landscape.
One direction he could be considering, should Feinstein step down, would be appointing ... himself, which would get Newsom out of the developing political maelstrom.
Newsom’s public approval rating remains high, but he’s also had several politically damaging missteps, including the infamous French Laundry dinner for a powerful lobbyist where Newsom and others gathered without masks as most Californians were being told indoor dining was not within COVID-19 safety protocols. There’s also growing public anger over an often confusing flurry of health orders that have shuttered schools and businesses, along with a massive unemployment benefits fraud scandal.
Amid all that, a recall effort has been gaining steam in the state, with organizers saying they have collected more than half the nearly 1.5 million petition signatures needed to place the recall on the ballot; they have until mid-March to hit the required threshold.
Recalls are not new to California — former Gov. Gray Davis was recalled from office back in 2003, and replaced by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
But this isn’t 2003 — Democrats hold far more power in state politics than they did 17 years ago and it’s difficult to see a path forward for any Republican-inspired recall of Newsom.
But Newsom, up for reelection in 2022, may find his political future dependent on California’s continuing response to the coronavirus and the distribution of vaccines – and how he manages a post-COVID-19 economy as the state faces the consequences of what will be a year of shutdown and decline.