Someone must have shown Gavin Newsom the polling because the California governor has now taken to publicized photo-ops of him cleaning garbage off the streets of Berkeley.
Good morning from under a Berkeley freeway underpass, where Gov. @GavinNewsom is cleaning up some trash pic.twitter.com/2MuEX98FnI
— Jeremy B. White (@JeremyBWhite) August 9, 2021
The embattled Democrat faces a narrowing recall election in just five weeks. While the prospect of a Republican winning the governor’s mansion in ultrablue California seems impossible, the stars have all aligned to the point that Newsom’s political fate is in serious peril. The trust fund baby bankrolled by the Gettys already entered Sacramento with a Rimowa full of personal baggage, and under his tenure, the Golden State has suffered from rolling blackouts, forest fires, and finally, the economic destruction of devastating pandemic regulations and restrictions. After being caught dining indoors at the Michelin-starred spot the French Laundry, a recall election became an inevitability.
Joe Biden’s ascension to the White House and the vaccine rollout seemed likely to spare Newsom for a time, but with pandemic panic resurging in California amid the delta variant and students likely locked out of another normal school year, Newsom’s seat became a little less safe. Then entered the game changer: Larry Elder.
The radio legend has been a California institution for three decades, and in a state strongly divided between the north and south, the long-underrepresented Southern California has a champion in Elder, with extra turnout boosted by establishment favorite Kevin Faulconer, the former mayor of San Diego, and former Olympian and wild-card candidate Caitlyn Jenner.
Since launching his quixotic bid to unseat Newsom, Elder has led the pack in the polls, but the real death knell came last week. As detailed in these pages by Zachary Faria, a new SurveyUSA poll found Newsom underwater overall but also by 6 points among Latinos and 4 points with vaccinated Californians. Some right-wing conspiracy this is not.
Perhaps Newsom’s internal polling has given him cause for confidence, but when the silver spoon San Franciscan feels as though he needs to lace up his Zegnas and roll up his Canali shirtsleeves, you know he’s in trouble.
