No, that isn’t what did him him. He was running a very poor showing and he came up with that to set him apart from other candidates. By no means would that disqualify him from running for something in a Blue state.
But it will destroy him in a national contest. He has zero chance of winning a prez general election,
Californian here. Newsom has done a decent job here and I think he handled the pandemic well, and pausing the HSR project was correct, IMHO. There was massive fraud via the EDD during the pandemic, but I have not heard him say much about it, and there is not a lot of movement on our housing problems. If you give him the microphone he’ll go on and on about diversity, equity, inclusion, underserved communities, etc., as if pandering to the progressive wing. He’s a competent Democrat in a deep blue state that hasn’t faced serious opposition.
As mentioned, he IS smarmy and has diahrrea of the mouth. The word salad can be epic. However, his positions generally line up with mine, and while I think he would not be afraid to figuratively smack the GOP liars in the mouth (“own the MAGAts”?), he probably does not have a lot of appeal outside CA.
Some have suggested Ro Khanna (House representative from California) for a dark-horse candidate. So far, he’s backing Biden if he runs, but if Biden doesn’t run, progressives have speculated he might throw his hat in the ring. He’s got the pluses of youth and energy, and seems to combine progressivism with pragmatism. Might he be a possibility?
My only worries with Newsom might be some of the black marks he has in his past. He survived the recall, but the fact that he was recalled at all might give his foes more ammunition than necessary. He had an affair in his past (after his divorce, he had a thing with the wife of a staffer, though I think he chalked it down to substance abuse, which he’s since gotten therapy for). There was some question as well about the ethics of his now-wife’s nonprofit organization receiving donations from corporations that had lobbied for his campaign. All of these might be stumbling blocks to his election–you can bet the Repubs will make the most out of all of these.
The substance abuse part is the only thing that doesn’t sound downright trumpy.
I do not care for him. He is a carpetbagger that got into congress only by primarying out a fellow Democrat in a solid blue district, and he tried it several times. He has never faced any real GOP opposition.