by Officially, the contest to replace California Governor Gavin Newsom, whose second and last term ends in 2027, has been going on for years. The first debate took place in San Francisco in September 2024 after one Democrat declared her candidacy in April 2023.
However, the starting gun actually went off on Wednesday at precisely noon. Kamala Harris declared she will not run at that point.
The political climate in the most populous state in the country was abruptly altered.
Knowing that dropouts from the governor’s race would not present an unexpected challenge, Democrats in races further down the ticket sighed. Political donors from California looked at the situation from a new angle. Emails that raised money attempted to take advantage of the media coverage. Many of the Democratic contenders were liberated from the will-she-or-won t-she limbo.
Shortly after the announcement, former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, one of the candidates, stated, “I got, like, eight texts in the last two minutes.” Everyone benefits from this since we can now tell who is and is not in the field.
The contest appears to have shifted from one middle ground to another despite all the jostling.
If Ms. Harris had chosen to run for governor, she would have brought the race to the attention of the country, attracting supporters, critics, and large donors to a race that hasn’t received much attention up to this point. A long list of lesser-known politicians, some of whom are unknown even in California, will compete now that she is gone. The undercard unexpectedly becomes the main event amid a packed field of at least ten contenders running to become the next governor.
According to Democratic strategist Brian Brokaw, who counseled Mr. Newsom on his 2018 gubernatorial campaign and Ms. Harris on her 2016 U.S. Senate campaign, we might wind up with a more snoozer of a race than we’ve been used to in recent elections. “At this point, nobody enters the race with a significant advantage,” he continued.
The content of the article is not being retrieved.
Please make sure that JavaScript is enabled in your browser.
We appreciate your patience as we check access. Please log out of Reader mode and sign in to your Times account, or subscribe to The Times in its entirety.
We appreciate your patience as we check access.
Are you a subscriber already?Sign in.
Do you want to read every Times article?Sign up.
