That 4.6 percentage-point drop shows not all Californians are happy with his governance. Still, a victory is a victory.
He began, “But I’m also deeply motivated and mindful of all the energy in this room, particularly the affirmative step the state of California took, the people of California took in unambiguous terms to assert our values and to go on the offense and to state overwhelmingly that we are a freedom state, that we support the rights of women and girls’ reproductive care.”
The votes came in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June by the U.S. Supreme Court, throwing the matter back to the states.
But in Newsom’s speech, note how he also mentioned “girls’ reproductive care.” Meaning 12-year-olds could be given abortions, or contraceptives, without their parents’ consent. That might not play as well in the above-mentioned states as has abortion for adults.
Newsom continued, “But one thing that is settled here today is who we are as a state and what we hold dear in terms of our values. Freedom, belief in family.” What’s not settled is the freedom of parents to raise their children according their own religious or ethical beliefs.
He went on for several more minutes about Prop. 1, again emphasizing, “How proud I am that we affirmed clearly with conviction that we are a true freedom state, that we embrace the life of women and girls.”
“Girls” again. It will be interesting to see how the abortion issue plays out nationally over the next several years. This year was different because of the overturning of Roe. But the whole point was to turn it back to the states, which has happened. Making it a national issue, by Newsom, President Biden, and others, might not work as well in 2024.
He said, “We have governors that won their reelection tonight in other states that are banning books, that are banning speech, that are banning abortion. And here we are in California moving in a completely different direction. That’s a deep point of pride, and it’s with that passion that I bring to this second term a resolve to do more to advance that cause of freedom and fairness.”
In reality, the only “banning books” going on is by the high-tech companies in California, all closely connected to the national security bureaucracies, banning free speech online. What Newsom is talking about is Florida and other states banning pornography being shown to schoolchildren. If he wants to run on 8-year-olds being exposed to filth—in tax-funded classrooms—he might be in for some surprises.
On immigration, Newsom said, “These red states where there’s a cruelty talking down to people, bullying people, making them feel lesser. That cruelty is extended by flying migrants to an island and celebrating that as some fleeting victory at others’ expense.”
He concluded with a long sentence, “As we turn the page on this campaign, I hope we turn the page on this polarization in our national discourse, once the dust settles with all of these national elections, we can all start to reconcile those differences and all start to focus on these universal values, this journey for recognition, this dignity deficit that some have described, this moment where people don’t feel they’re being seen and don’t feel they’re being heard.”
If anything, Tuesday’s election showed the opposite: the national divisions are bigger and deeper than ever. On the abortion issue he hopes to run with into the Oval Office, Florida, Texas, and other states are going in the opposite direction of California and making it almost completely illegal. If Newsom and other progressives left it at that, with each state deciding the issue, it would become less important.
But Newsom and the others—such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, re-elected governors Kathy Hochul of New York and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan—won’t leave it alone. Abortion always is going to be nationally divisive because they want it so.
Newsom’s final words, “We all have a responsibility to do a little bit more to meet people where they are and to dig a little deeper in terms of building other people up. And that’s my commitment to the people of the state of California this evening with the spirit of my family beside me looking at this larger family, California, where the future we say proudly happens first. Thank you very much, California.”
But the future is California lost one seat in the House of Representatives after the 2020 U.S. Census and probably will lose one or two more in 2030. And in 2020, Florida gained one seat and Texas, two.
For Gov. Gavin Newsom, the “future” is going to be a lot different from what he expects.
