SACRAMENT- When he ran for governor in 2017, Gavin Newsom tapped into the simmering anger of California liberals, at one point boasting on the campaign trail: “You want resistance to Donald Trump? Go ahead, Donald.”
That arrogance helped Newsom reach the 2018 election and crystallized his reputation as a national leader of the anti-Trump resistance.
It's less clear whether California's next governor will follow Newsom's lead.
The crowded field of Democrats running to succeed Newsom in 2026, and others weighing campaigns, are still triangulating how best to position themselves against President-elect Trump, and whether that's a stance California voters will even take. they want.
Some candidates have echoed Newsom in a strident tone. The week Trump was re-elected, Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, who is considering a run for governor, stood in front of the Golden Gate Bridge and vowed to use “the full force of the law” to defend Californians against the new administration.
“If Trump attacks your rights: I will be there,” Bonta said. “If Trump goes after your freedoms: I will be there. If Trump endangers your safety and well-being: I will be there.”
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, who ran for governor last year, said the state would fight any effort by the Trump administration to roll back protections for LGBTQ+ students or dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. . And Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis pledged in a social media post that California “will never waver in our protection of the freedom to control our bodies, marry those we love, and create opportunities for immigrants and ALL of our families.”
The slight shift to the right by California voters this year has given other candidates pause. Preliminary election results suggest that several counties won by President Biden in 2020 swung toward Trump this year, including San Bernardino County in Southern California, Butte County in Northern California and a wide swath of the Valley. San Joaquin through Merced, Fresno and Stanislaus counties. shows a Times analysis.
Voters also dealt resounding losses to the criminal justice reform movement, voting for the District. Lawyers. George Gascón and Pamela Price leave office and pass a tough-on-crime ballot initiative with overwhelming support.
“Is stoking Trump's resistance really the right move given what just happened?” said Sarah Anzia, a political scientist and professor of public policy at UC Berkeley. “I think this would require some introspection and consideration of why Trump has gained popularity in a state like this.”
Former state Comptroller Betty Yee, who entered the gubernatorial race in March, has noted in fundraising emails the state's “turn toward Trump.” As votes continue to be counted across the state, the change appears to be just 5 points; Biden won 63.5% of California voters in 2020. Harris currently has 58.6%.
“That's a pretty significant deviation, and while it's easy to attribute the votes of millions of Californians to hating or falling for Trump, the fact is that more young people and more black and Latino families voted for Trump than ever before.” Yee wrote.
In another message, he wrote that “Latinos of all ages and young people (the literal future of California, two groups that politicians have relied on for decades) walked away from the Democratic Party in a historically poor election.”
However, navigating such subtle shifts in the electorate can be tricky, and correcting too far to the right can be equally treacherous.
Although he performed better in California in 2024 than in 2020, Trump remains very unpopular among most voters in the Golden State. Historically, the party that is not in the White House also makes great gains in the next general election, which will be in 2026, when Californians will elect a new governor. So attacking Trump may prove fruitful.
Toni Atkins, a former state Senate leader who is among a half-dozen candidates who have launched their 2026 gubernatorial campaigns, described the focus on Trump as something of a necessary evil.
Everyone is jumping on the “anti-Trump bandwagon,” he said, which is a distraction from California's major issues, such as the rising cost of living, but is critical to the state's spirit.
Atkins was the leader of the state Senate during the first Trump administration and led the campaign for Proposition 1, which enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
He said Trump's re-election changes “the whole nature of this gubernatorial race.”
“We have to worry about what this means for California,” he said, “because he came to attack us for the first time.”
State Sen. Toni Atkins (R) speaks during a gubernatorial candidate forum in San Francisco in September alongside Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who is also running to replace Gavin Newsom.
(Josh Edelson / for The Times)
California sued the federal government more than 100 times during the first Trump administration, challenging the president's authority over immigration, health care, education, gun control, consumer protection, the census, the US Postal Service, civil rights issues and other topics.
On the campaign trail, Trump recently mocked Newsom as “Newscum” and called California and its Democratic leaders “radical left-wing lunatics.” He has also targeted some of the state's highest-profile leaders, including Sen.-elect Adam Schiff and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, calling them “enemies within.”
But California still needs support from the White House in many areas, including health insurance for low-income residents that requires federal health care waivers and emergency funds for natural disasters like wildfires.
In a poll conducted by UC Berkeley's Institute of Government Studies and co-sponsored by The Times in late October, more than half of registered voters said they had no preference among candidates who had already entered the race. Among those who do, their favorites have not yet announced their campaigns.
U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine), who has not said whether she will run, would be the first or second choice of 13% of voters, according to the poll. Two Republicans said to be weighing campaigns, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and state Sen. Brian Dahle, who is running against Newsom in 2022, were the first or second choice of 12% and 11% of voters. registered voters, respectively.
Kounalakis and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa each have 7% support, as does Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who has not said whether he will run. Republican commentator Steve Hilton, who is also said to be considering a candidacy, would be the first or second choice of 6% of voters.
Thurmond, Atkins and Yee had the support of less than 5% of registered voters.
While the political environment for the 2026 campaign appears to be changing, lessons may be learned from the last time Californians elected governor while Trump was in the White House.
In 2018, Villaraigosa ran a campaign that leaned toward the middle, focusing on equal access to education, fiscal restraint, and his strong record as mayor in supporting law enforcement and environmental protection. . Newsom campaigned on a deeply liberal and expensive agenda, including proposals for a state-sponsored health care system, universal preschool education, and increased funding for higher education.
Villaraigosa did not manage to get out of the primaries. Newsom won consecutive terms.
