Now is time for Newsom to be bold

In the end, it wasn’t even close. Nor should it have been. Faced with their best chance to win the governorship in decades, California Republicans ran a coterie of carnival barkers and fools who all but threw the electorate into Gavin Newsom’s arms. The recall was a sham, perpetrated by a party that would rather play dirty tricks than adjust its policies to the 21st century. And voters knew it.

Newsom’s overwhelming victory in Tuesday’s recall election was, on most levels, cause for celebration. A loss would have been a disaster for the state at a time it could least afford it. But that there were any white-knuckled moments at all during this campaign will hopefully give Newsom something to chew on.

Yes, there’s debate whether the much-publicized initial support for the recall was inflated by a few questionable polls — an argument only made stronger by Newsom’s overwhelming victory. But the governor’s reaction to his weakness —

real or perceived — was telling; he was overwhelmingly cautious, not the bold leader California needs, craves and deserves.

Much has changed since Newsom was first elected in 2018; California was the heart of the anti-Trump “resistance” then. Electing a leader who could throw up roadblocks to the thenpresident’s agenda, in the mind of many voters, perhaps took precedence over someone who would aggressively enact his own.

Smart and telegenic, Newsom was certainly up for going toe-to-toe with Trump. Those battles gave the governor a chance to burnish his scandalfaded star in the international limelight. But if California voters then were looking for (or at least willing to tolerate) a political celebrity who could roll in the muck without getting his hair dirty, those days are long over, as evidenced by the reaction to Newsom’s infamous French Laundry dinner.

Though still a pustule on the face of the nation, Trump now isn’t even the biggest pockmark in his home state of Florida. Resistance is meaningless. California has problems of its own — and we need a leader who makes headway, not headlines.

Newsom’s leadership during the pandemic saved lives and helped the state land on solid economic footing that the public health-truthers governing Florida and Texas did not. And yet we need more. California can and should be the laboratory for how the U.S. navigates the twin evils of racial injustice and climate change. No effort is more pressing than housing, which is inherently tied to both.

In 2018, Newsom vowed to lead a “Marshall Plan” to build housing. Instead, production in state has been a mere fraction of what Newsom promised. And much of the housing we have built is in unsustainable suburbs or fire country. Meanwhile, a lack of housing options near jobs has continued to push low-income Californians to the exurban fringe — or worse — the streets.

Newsom’s first task as conquering recall hero should be to pick the controversial housing bill SB9 (which would eliminate single-family zoning in California) off his desk, wipe the dust off and sign it with pride. He should also sign AB118, which would fund alternatives to police in responding to mental health crises, after vetoing a similar bill last year. A gloves-off approach with the fossil fuel industry, by say, shooting for a more ambitious target than 2045 to ban oil drilling in state, is also necessary and welcome.

It remains to be seen, however, if Newsom will regard his recall sweep as a mandate for bold action or justification for cautious triangulation. California doesn’t the have time, or, likely, the inclination, to indulge the latter.