California witnessed a different tone and message from Gov. Gavin Newsom in Tuesday’s State of the State speech, but will it reverberate long enough to hold off a possible recall against the first-term Democrat?
Gov. Newsom was already back out touring the state’s mass vaccination sites Wednesday following the address, one that many pinned as pivotal to his political future amid the growing recall effort against him. In it, the governor laid out his vision for the state’s road to recovery, but the effort to remove him from office continues to loom over it all, even if he didn’t directly mention it.
"I think this was the wrong venue, I think this was the wrong tone and I think it was the wrong message," said Mike Madrid, Republican political consultant, a principal at GrassRoots Lab and co-founder of The Lincoln Project.
Calling the governor’s issues "fixable," Madrid told KCBS Radio’s "The State of California" that Tuesday’s setting "was a very peculiar environment."
The speech came from a symbolically empty Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, a venue picked to symbolize the nearly 55,000 of Californians lost during the COVID-19 pandemic thus far.
The speech, short by Gov. Newsom’s standards, touched on the COVID-19 pandemic and a number of issues, labeling the recall effort as "a partisan political power grab led by naysayers and doomsdayers."
"He’s got to be a little more candid, much more authentic and he’s going to have to demonstrate more leadership," Madrid said of the governor’s remarks on the pandemic and the state’s response to it.
As for what to expect in a recall election, Madrid expects Gov. Newsom to use former President Donald Trump as a target, something he didn’t do when Trump was in office. "I assure you that you will hear a lot about Donald Trump if the recall does quality and Gavin Newsom will do everything he can to run against Donald Trump even though he’s not on the ballot."
Republicans Kevin Faulconer and John Cox have said they will run against Gov. Newsom in a possible recall election later this year.
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