‘Do you know me?’ asks GOP candidate for Calif. governor
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — John Cox, the Republican businessman running for governor of California, and his small entourage breezed through the doors of an In-N-Out Burger in Ventura County the other day. Cox introduced himself to a couple at a corner table, mentioning how he has been rising in some polls.
“People still don’t know who I am,” he said to the couple. “You’ve barely heard of me, right?” Yes, that’s right. As he was leaving, Robert Risinger, 57, was one of the few who did recognize Cox and said, “Good luck, I hope you win.” After he was gone, Risinger, who described himself as an “independent centrist,” meant he believed Cox had no shot, quickly adding, “this isn’t a liberal state; this is a leftist state.”
Such is the uphill battle for a Republican running for governor in California. Analysts have called the campaign just short of a coronation for Gavin Newsom, the Democratic lieutenant governor and former mayor of San Francisco, in the race to replace the popular outgoing governor, Jerry Brown.
Newsom is well ahead in the polls and has been busy campaigning for Democrats running for Congress, while playing down his own race. Still, Cox has made some gains. In July he was 24 points behind in the polls, but Newsom’s lead has since been cut in half — 51 percent for Newsom, 39 percent for Cox — according to a recent poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California.
And Cox has a resonant message: that too many Californians, amid an economic boom that catapulted the state to the fifth-largest economy in the world, are struggling to make it. Tens of thousands of Californians are homeless. Housing prices have skyrocketed, putting homeownership out of reach for millions.
A recent television ad from Cox’s campaign paints a bleak picture of California, saying, “Gavin Newsom, it happened on your watch.”
In his campaign, Newsom echoes many of Cox’s concerns about issues confronting the state, but as the two candidates agree on the diagnosis, they differ on the remedy. Newsom would spend more money on housing subsidies and push for single-payer health care. Cox has offered a conservative approach, saying he would cut red tape and regulations to bring down the cost of housing, spend more on addiction and mental health treatment, and support efforts to force homeless people into treatment.
No television debates were scheduled, and just a single radio debate, held last week by KQED, San Francisco’s public radio station, has brought them together.
In the debate, Cox said as governor he would reduce regulations that he believes have driven up the cost of homes. “My vision of California is where people can afford to buy a house,” he said. “They can afford gasoline. They can afford water, electricity.”
Given the lack of debates, analysts say California voters are being deprived of the opportunity to size up their choices.
“These two candidates are not really sitting down together and having an earnest conversation about what ails California and who has the better solution,” said Bill Whalen, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and former adviser to Pete Wilson, a Republican governor.
As for Newsom, Cox said, “my opponent is all about the House. And why is that? He wants chits when he runs for president.”
Newsom has consistently batted away presidential speculation.