A political showdown between pro-Trump “America First” and “Never Trump” establishment Republican factions is set to come to a head in California’s primary election on June 7.
Tensions boiled to the surface at the California Republican Party convention last month in Anaheim, when the mics of a few pro-Trump candidates’ were cut during their campaign speeches and the party brass were accused of turning a blind eye to rigged proxy votes and pay-to-play politics for endorsements.
In the primary race for governor, the endorsement process exposed rifts within the Republican Party, most noticeably between California GOP-endorsed state Sen. Brian Dahle and Jenny Rae Le Roux, who is backed by the California Republican Assembly (CRA).
The California Republican establishment has been slow to embrace the “America First” policies of former President Donald Trump to reduce U.S. dependence on other nations, including the communist regime in China.
Meanwhile, Democrats appear united behind California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is expected to win a second term. However, while Newsom isn’t facing any serious threats from within the Democratic Party or from independents, some fractures are beginning to show between traditional liberals and the “woke” progressive wing of the party.
“Green” Democrats continue to beat the environmental justice drum to claim that climate change poses an existential threat. That message is lost on many Californians who are paying more than $6 a gallon for gas at most pumps.
Parents at both ends of the political spectrum are angry about so-called cancel culture and social justice issues such as the Marxist-rooted critical race theory and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender education of students in California schools. Many old-school Democrats have left the party over critical race theory propaganda and transgender activism pushed by teachers unions.
Controversy continues to plague Democrats over mask and vaccine mandates for workers and school-age children, along with progressive policies that have failed to reduce crime, the homelessness crisis, and the drug epidemic.
Democratic lawmakers also are facing growing opposition to proposed legislation and political platforms that support “gender-affirming care” and puberty blockers for children, as well as expanded “abortion services” and plans to make California a sanctuary for out-of-state abortion-seekers.
The progressive wing of the Democratic Party remains focused on social issues in the culture war, while little is said about the Golden State’s economy, except that California remains the fifth- or sixth-largest economy in the world.
In Southern California, the crisis at the U.S.–Mexico border continues to heat up, with thousands of illegal aliens being bused into the state almost daily. At the same time, California residents are bracing for more economic downturns, staggering inflation, and a growing supply-chain crisis, while dealing with the lingering economic effects of statewide COVID mandates.
More than two dozen candidates for California governor have offered a wide array of platforms as voters begin to cast their ballots in the state’s first permanent vote-by-mail primary election on June 7.
A total of 26 candidates—four Democrats, 11 Republicans, eight independents, and two Green Party candidates are running in the 2022 gubernatorial race, although under California’s jungle primary system, only the two candidates with the most number of votes, regardless of party affiliation, will make the Nov. 8 midterm general election ballot.
Dahle
Dahle, a business owner, urged voters who “are fed up with the failed leadership that is destroying California” to join his efforts to get the state “back on track,” according to his official candidate statement.“I’ll fight to reverse policies that foolishly released thousands of criminals from prison and put them back in our neighborhoods. Count on me to repeal laws that allow thugs to rob and steal without being held accountable,” he said. He promised to “crack down on crime.”
He criticized the Newsom administration for spending billions of dollars to solve California’s homelessness crisis, only to find the “problem is worse than ever.” He promised to fix the problem and “clean up the mess.”
“The high cost of living in California places a huge burden on working people and retirees. It is nearly impossible for young people to buy a home. I will fight to make California affordable for families,” he said.
He panned the state for the billions of dollars in fraudulent unemployment claims it paid out to scammers, including “criminals housed in state prisons.”
“Yet, hard-working, honest people forced out of jobs by COVID-19 shutdowns had to wait months for help,” he said.
Le Roux
Le Roux is a business owner and entrepreneur who promises to “revive the California Dream.”“People used to come to California to pursue freedom and prosperity. Now, Californians are fleeing the nightmare: inflation, housing shortages, crushing taxes, and skyrocketing crime. Our schools are underperforming. Fires rage, water is scarce, and power is unreliable,” she said in her candidate statement.
Newsom
Newsom is the clear frontrunner of the Democratic Party. Though he hasn’t submitted a candidate statement on the Secretary of State website, Newsom’s progressive policies are well known to Californians.
He is a strong pro-abortion advocate, recently vowing to make California a sanctuary state for out-of-state residents seeking abortions.
Newsom is a proponent of criminal justice reform and progressive policies that include closing some state prisons. He’s a gun control supporter and backs sanctuary cities, which make it difficult for federal authorities to enforce immigration law.
His campaign website lists climate change, tackling homelessness, expanding mental health treatment, stopping gun violence, and making California more affordable as some of the main planks in his platform.
“Under Governor Newsom, California leads the world in turning our climate resolve into real actions. He is taking on big polluters and safeguarding our coasts and public lands for future generations,” his website states.
Newsom claims his administration is tackling the homelessness crisis “head-on” with housing programs such as Project Roomkey and Project Homekey. He has begun “a first-of-its-kind effort to make it easier for those on the street to get mental health treatment.”
He also takes aim at America’s “gun violence epidemic,” claiming he is “taking on the NRA [National Rifle Association]” and strengthening laws to keep illegal guns off the streets.
“California is doing more than ever before to lower the cost of necessities that matter most for families—housing, childcare, retirement, and higher education,” he said.
Newsom survived a Sept. 14. recall election with 61.9 percent support among the 12.8 million voters who participated.
About 7.4 million California residents voted to recall him as governor. Of those ballots, Larry Elder (R) received 48.4 percent of the votes, followed by Kevin Paffrath (D) with 9.6 percent, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer (R) with 8 percent, Dr. Brandon Ross (D) with 5.3 percent, and John Cox (R) with 4.1 percent.
In declaring victory, Newsom suggested Californians had given him their nod of approval to push forward with his progressive policies.
“We said yes to science. We said yes to vaccines. We said yes to ending this pandemic,” Newsom told reporters on election night. “We said yes to people’s right to vote without fear of fake fraud and voter suppression. We said yes to women’s fundamental constitutional right to decide for herself what she does with her body, her fate, her future. We said yes to diversity.”
Shellenberger
Shellenberger, a former Democrat running as an independent, appears to be gaining ground in the race. His main campaign issues are crime, education, energy, housing, water, and homelessness.“California spends more per capita on homelessness than any other state and has the worst outcomes in all of America,“ Shellenberger said. ”The number of homeless in California has increased 31 percent since 2010 even as the number of homeless in the rest of the U.S. has declined 18 percent. The reason? Gov. Gavin Newsom invited them to come here.”
Newsom, he said, keeps making the homelessness problem worse “by offering free housing to drug addicts and refusing to crack down on open drug scenes.”
Shellenberger advocates for a “Shelter First” policy and a ban on illegal camping. He contends that subsidized housing should be earned, and not given away.
“And they’re not ‘homeless encampments,’” he said. “They are open drug scenes.”
Shellenberger claims that in 2020 and 2021, Newsom invited addicts from around the country to come and live in California.
The influx has resulted in “skyrocketing crime, violence, and drug overdoses,” he said. “Desperate addicts break laws to support their drug habits. As a result, our cities are increasingly dangerous and unlivable. Newsom claims to be compassionate. He’s not. His policies are cruel and immoral.”
Shellenberger has pledged to create a statewide psychiatric and addiction care system called “Cal-Psych,” because the county-based system is expensive and wasteful, he said.
Crime is out of control because California’s cities are failing to enforce the law, he said.
“Radical left ‘defund the police’ activists have demoralized the police.
“Californians don’t have to choose between mass incarceration and mass crime; they need more police, more probation, and more psychiatric treatment for addicts and the mentally ill,” he said.
Shellenberger said California’s schools are “failing our children.” Only 30 percent of students in public schools are proficient in math and less than 50 percent are proficient in reading.
“This is unacceptable,” he said. “Somehow, teachers unions and elected officials forgot that schools are supposed to be, first and foremost, for educating children, not coddling adults.”
