Newsom wins primary, is big favorite in November
SACRAMENTO >> In a year when Democrats across the country have been bracing for a mid-term backlash at the polls, voters in California delivered decisive victories for the party during Tuesday's primary, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom crushing a field of 25 other candidates less than a year after voters tried to recall him from office.
Newsom got about 59% of the votes and has more than $23 million in the bank for a November general election against Brian Dahle, a largely anonymous state senator from the sparsely populated northeast corner of the state.
Dahle, best known for his quest to get a giant new reservoir built in Northern California, had about 15% of the votes and finished second. In California's primary system, the top two vote-getters advance to the general election.
Dahle now has five months and just $400,000 in campaign funds to introduce himself to voters in some of the most expensive media markets in the country.
His first task will be to raise the money necessary to compete with Newsom statewide. It won't be easy. Many Republican donors will be loathe to back a longshot candidate when they instead might invest in a handful of congressional races in the state that could determine control of the U.S. House.
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.
“There is basically nothing to do to change the dynamics of this race,” Levinson said.
Dahle doesn't see it that way, telling The Associated Press: “I believe I can win this race.”
One of his primary issues will be California's nationleading gas prices, which hit a record $6.37 per gallon on Tuesday. Dahle has demanded Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders temporarily suspend the state's gas tax, which at 51.1 cents per gallon is the second-highest in the country. Newsom has rejected the idea.
“He's an elitist Democrat who doesn't live in the same world everybody else does,” Dahle said of Newsom. “He's just not focused on the pain I hear form my constituents every day.”
Newsom has proposed using a portion of the state's nearly $100 billion budget surplus to send checks of up to $800 to people who own cars, plus another $750 million to give people free rides on public transit for three months.
Newsom will run on a progressive agenda that includes stricter gun laws and enhanced abortion services.
With the U.S. Supreme Court likely to overturn Roe v. Wade, Newsom has vowed to make California a sanctuary for women seeking abortions from other states where the procedure could be outlawed or severely restricted. He's also pushed for a new law that would let people sue gun makers and sellers to enforce a ban on some assault weapons — much like Texas does to enforce its ban on most abortions.
“Across the country Republicans are attacking our fundamental rights as Americans. Destroying democracy, stripping a woman of the right to choose, and standing idly by as gun violence claims too many lives,” Newsom said in a statement released after his primary victory. “California is the antidote to their cynicism — leading with compassion, common-sense and science.”