Gov. Gavin Newsom headed to the Central Valley on Thursday to tout his upcoming jobs plan, saying California's economic power was “cold comfort” to regions that feel they are not fully participating in the state's muscle production.
The substance of the governor's announcement was incremental. But the scene — a liberal politician standing in front of heavy machinery, talking about blue-collar jobs in a county that backed President-elect Donald Trump on Nov. 5 — appeared to be a response to the election, in which Democrats took a beating. after critics said they were not aware of economic issues.
“Some people say, 'This economy is booming, inflation is cooling and unemployment is the lowest it has ever been.' …' All of that may be true, but people don't feel that way. They feel like the economy doesn't support them,” Newsom said in an appearance at a Fresno community college, identifying that gap as a “point of emphasis” in the election.
Newsom characterized working in places like the West Fresno campus apprenticeship program as an “antidote” to that economic disconnect.
During the last Trump administration, Newsom burnished his national profile by presenting himself as a crusading foil to the then-president. He revisited those skirmishes in the days after the 2024 election and announced a special session of the Legislature to prepare for potential Republican-led attacks on abortion rights, environmental protections and disaster funding.
The governor sounded some of those same notes while answering questions Thursday, saying Trump broke the law and “wrecked our progress” the last time he was president.
But Newsom also acted cautiously, claiming he had worked more closely with Trump at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic than any other Democratic governor, and saying he didn't care how his own constituents had voted.
“I'm worried about Trump supporters. I care about RFK Jr. fans. I care about Tucker Carlson fans. I care about Charlie Kirk fans. I care about Ben Shapiro's fans. I care about all people,” said Newsom, a Democrat widely seen as a possible contender in the 2028 presidential race.
Hours before speaking in Fresno, the governor's political action committee, the Campaign for Democracy, sent an email to supporters, asking for comments on “what steps Democrats should take to recoup some of these losses in the upcoming elections and beyond”. ”
In an interview with the New York Times, Newsom said he would soon visit the deep red counties of Kern and Colusa, which are also in the Central Valley, and that he understood the message being sent by voters concerned about their economic future.
Democratic political strategist Andrew Acosta said Newsom should have taken a cue from the mixed results in his own reelection in 2022.
“To me, there was a message sent two years ago when he lost in a lot of these same places by pretty substantial margins to a Republican who didn't really run much in the race,” Acosta said.
Acosta noted that Newsom's record had been used by supporters of Republican Rep. John Duarte in ads against Democratic challenger Adam Gray in the tough Central Valley battle for California's 13th Congressional District, which remains too close to win.
The governor seemed keenly aware Thursday that Californians, whether they turn red and listen to “The Ben Shapiro Show” or keep the radio dial of their Prius tuned to NPR airwaves, share a common concern: the cost of living in an extraordinarily expensive state.
A survey conducted in mid-October by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California said the economy, including jobs and the cost of living, is the most pressing issue for state residents.
Those results held across geographic, partisan and demographic lines. But Central Valley residents had a particularly bleak view of the state's economic prospects, with more than two-thirds of respondents saying they expected bad times ahead next year. Central Valley residents were also the least likely to see hope on California's distant horizon: Less than 1 in 3 said they thought the state was headed in the right direction, according to the Public Policy Institute survey.
Newsom said the seed of inspiration for his jobs plan was planted when he was lieutenant governor and saw how the California dream had eroded in many places.
“I felt like the coastal areas of the state were doing well, but at the end of the day, it was a different story being told across the state,” he said.
The governor laid out the structure of his upcoming “California Jobs First Economic Plan,” which will be released in full early next year.
The San Francisco-raised politician has a habit of traveling to more conservative parts of California after major elections.
In 2019, on his first full day in office, Newsom toured high-fire risk areas in Placer County, a historically red section of Northern California's Gold Country. And he held a news conference with his wife in Fresno County shortly after winning re-election in 2022.
