Originally published at: Long, Weird California Governor Primary Comes to a Close After Surprise Becerra Surge - TPM – Talking Points Memo
The California Democratic primary for governor, lacking both predictability and high-caliber candidates, has seen stunning falls from grace and resurrections as it comes to a close on Tuesday. Former Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), the frontrunner out of the gate, slipped and never recovered when two videos went viral this fall. One showed her berating a…
Ok, it is going to be a while for those in California to post, so, Frist!
3 Likes
Swalwell should have changed parties because we know the GOP loves their sexual predators.
8 Likes
So I am and have been following this race closely. Here’s the deal, it’s a myth that CA is reliably blue IMO. You scratch the surface and there are TONS of republicans chillin in the background. Like the US Congress, a lot of our bench is aging out. We, too, need new blood at the state level. As for the governors race, I don’t think anyone wanted Swalwell.
We have a bench but it wasn’t dazzling. Let’s face it we had a lot more star power with Schwarzenegger and Newsom. But that is not typical. The caliber of candidate didn’t change, the political environment has. A lot of us were willing to get behind Swalwell to have (IMO) a generic Democratic Ken doll to run against these crazy Maga candidates. Swalwell was very problematic in that he had a thin resume and no policy positions. The fact that he had sexual assaults just lying there that were not investigated seems appalling as well.
I wanted Becerra as far back as last summer. But his actions didn’t appear as if he wanted the job. So as far as the Dem candidates are concerned: Tom Steyer is just gross. The amount of money he has spent on just the primary alone is disgusting and disqualifying for me. Katie Porter - I know people who have had personal interactions with her. She’s got interpersonal issues that have not been publicized within the party and would really have an issues the Party Apparatus. While Matt Mahan was billing himself as a centrist, a lot of his money came from major Republican and Silicon Valley oligarchy donations. No one trusts him. Villaragosa, Yee, and Thurman could not get out of the single digits.
Finally two remaining thoughts. California could have had a more productive conversation about the direction of the state if Tom Steyer had not sucked up all the oxygen with his money. He wanted bad, and he was pulling all the Trump tricks. He’s calling himself a progressive, but he has no record other than as a donor to the Ca State Democratic Party. The state Dems and liberal elites were all falling in line: celebrities and pundits. Again, he has no record and the amount of money he’s spending should be disqualifying. In addition, he and his family has a vested financial interest in the environmental initiatives if he wins. At some point when you’re spending that much much money, it’s just fishy.
Second, it appears as if there really is a racial bias that no one is talking about. Becerra is a quiet guy but he’s no dummy. He’s not as media trained or savvy with social media. Not everyone can’t be Newsom and AOC. Frankly he’s a nerd, but he also happens to be a Mexican nerd. The groundswell is organic and from the people. He’s pragmatic and a policy wonk, and not a BOLD VISIONARY ™ and for some people that’s not exciting. I am very disappointed in all those very smart people who lined up for Steyer in the media and progressive elite spaces. His tactics are IDENTICAL to Trump in 2016 and everyone is falling for it.
If you can’t tell I voted for Becerra and I don’t regret it.
30 Likes
I heard he has a small lead in the polling
Three separate polls released between May 29 and June 1 show a tight race between three gubernatorial candidates: Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News contributor, and Democrats Xavier Becerra, the former health and human services secretary, and Tom Steyer, a billionaire climate activist.
Becerra leads a CSU Long Beach-USC-Cal Poly Pomona survey, conducted with a sample of 735 voters between May 23 and May 26 and obtained by POLITICO, holding 27% of voters. Hilton is 4 percentage points behind at 23%, while Steyer holds 15%
8 Likes
For most of the country, we’re not going to know anything until Wednesday and maybe not even then, depending on how the vote settles.
Does CA have to have run-offs in this case, should there not be a certain percentage of lead? I know it’s ranked choice, but I’m less familiar with how it all works.
5 Likes
trump appoints Bill Puti (stooge) to be acting DNI
Trump appoints ally and FHFA chief Pulte as acting US intelligence director
une 2 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was appointing Federal Housing Finance Agency chief Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence.
“During this period, he will remain Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and Chairman of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac,” he said in a Truth Social post.
7 Likes
I left California in the summer of 1977 for grad school. I intended to return, but fate and the job market had other plans for me. I have followed California politics as closely as I can from a distance.
Being a big-tent party (which is what the Democratic Party is in California) is a double-edged blade. On the one hand, the Democrats mostly control the state government–Republicans can only get elected in strongholds like the Central Valley and the far north. But on the other hand, there are lots of folks on the fringes who would really be happier with a (much) more conservative approach, but they can’t abide the racism that is apparently a permanent feature of the Republicans. But three-party systems are unstable under first-past-the-post vote counts.
It’s a riddle, and we’ll get the latest answer tomorrow.
ETA
I meant to add my two cents. I think Becerra is the next Governor. Becerra beats Hilton like a drum if Hilton somehow finishes second. If (as I expect) it’s Steyer vs. Becerra in November I think it’s going to be a tough, ugly race, but Becerra wins. I think people are pretty fed-up with billionaires and wanna-be billionaires buying offices by gaslighting the electorate. Maybe Steyer would be an okay governor, but based on what we’ve seen when other “business people” have taken executive offices I have my doubts. Running a business has a much simpler metric than running a government. Beyond that, the skill sets are different. Persuasion is much more important in running a government than it is in business, and especially in a closely-held business. I don’t think Steyer has the skill-set to persuade the legislature to his point-of-view.
21 Likes
It’s just the top two move to the November election.
5 Likes
Nope. It’s top two into the General in November. Unless things have changed and I missed it, it’s not ranked-choice voting.
Speaking as someone who has studied choice systems and vote-counting systems and even published a little in the field, this one sucks.
9 Likes
This choice makes perfect sense … if you’re a grifting fascist with authoritarian fantasies hoping to turn the nation’s intelligence agencies into personal vendetta machinery against your perceived domestic enemies.
Q.E.D.
7 Likes
Honey, there are a couple of guys in dark suits and sunglasses at the front door. They want to talk to us about our mortgage application….
8 Likes
A strange primary, indeed! But the moment itself is weird. In California and everywhere else.
6 Likes
It’s not ranked choice. It’s top two. So now that Tom Steyer has fallen to third, he’s working really hard to knock Hilton out of the #2 slot. The top 2 move to the general.
3 Likes
Becerra is yet another inept mainstream Dem, regarded as a lightweight by his fellow cabinet members in the Biden administration. All he offers is more of the same, the Californian state budget has almost doubled over the last 10 years with no measurable result. He’s captured by the power industry. He’s a continuation of failure on homelessness, inability to build new houses (or indeed anything) and ineptitude while increasing spending. He’s also 68 so should be retired.
Hilton is a smug Berkshire who is owned by fossil fuels and TSF.
Unfortunately I felt I had no better option than Steyer, which sucks but he might actually change something - hopefully for the better and not in a TSF way. Though incinerating $250M that could have been better spent elsewhere isn’t a great start. And he should also be retired
Apparently Harris sat it out because she’s planning on running for President again. Fan-bloody-tastic
And it’s not RCV, which might have come back with a better result. It’s a pretty shit candidate list.
4 Likes
As when Meg Whitman ran for California governor in 2010 and spent a then-unprecedented $144 million of her own money in the race: the first question you should be asking is, what does she expect to get in return for that outlay? Fortunately Jerry Brown crushed her in the general election.
13 Likes
So if it’s not ranked choice, what is it?
Pick one candidate.
Votes are counted.
The top two vote counts go to the General.
4 Likes
Not ranked choice! Jungle primary advances the top two regardless of party. The general election is between those top two.
3 Likes