Connect with us

Politics

After campaigning outside California, Newsom spends final days of election in home state

Published

on

After campaigning outside California, Newsom spends final days of election in home state

Throughout this election cycle, California Gov. Gavin Newsom traveled the country campaigning for the Democratic presidential ticket, making stops in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Hampshire, Georgia, South Carolina, Oregon, Idaho, Washington and Nevada.

He ran his own campaign to raise money for Democrats in red states, became the party’s fighter on conservative television shows and acted as a proxy for President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

After crisscrossing America, the Democratic governor is spending the final days of the 2024 election in a place where he hasn’t campaigned very much this year: his home state.

“You can do anything. You can’t do everything,” Newsom said about his effort to balance his responsibilities to campaign nationally and in California during an interview. “I mean, if there was an eighth day I’d use it.”

Advertisement

Newsom’s appearances this weekend in Orange County highlighted an irony of his strategy: As the governor wooed donors in Boise, Idaho, and defended Biden in Atlanta, Democrats in California have waged a fierce fight in key congressional races largely without the state’s most powerful politician by their side.

California has several battleground House races that will help determine which party controls Congress next year. The closest contests are in regions of the state where polls show Newsom is most unpopular with voters. The governor’s decision to spend more time campaigning outside California than in its most competitive districts may actually help his Golden State allies — and his own political career.

“He’s not only working on the presidential campaign for Vice President Harris, but there’s no doubt that he’s also working on his own potential presidential campaign, and he doesn’t need to do that in California,” said Matt Rexroad, a Republican strategist. “He knows all those people.”

With two years left before term limits force Newsom out of the governor’s office, traveling the nation for Biden and Harris allowed him to showcase himself as a seasoned politician and a prolific fundraiser while building up his list of supporters outside California. The pilgrimages into GOP territory branded the governor as a pugilist capable of landing shots on the Republican Party and former President Trump.

Though Newsom endorsed just a handful of Democrats running for Congress and declined to take an official stance on seven of the 10 measures on the statewide ballot, the governor said he’s put in work as California’s top Democrat.

Advertisement

He raised nearly $2 million for eight Democratic candidates in California congressional contests, his aides said, and has made appearances in several districts throughout the long campaign season.

“We’ve been doing a lot of fundraising for the congressional folks for almost two years,” Newsom said.

On Sunday, Newsom joined a lineup that included Senate candidate Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), California Democratic Party Chairman Rusty Hicks, state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and several others rallying for Democrat Derek Tran at a United Food and Commercial Workers union hall in Buena Park.

He told the crowd he was there for two main reasons: to thank the volunteers canvassing and making calls for Democrats and to support Tran in his effort to oust Republican Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Seal Beach) — a contest considered one of the most important congressional races in the country.

“That’s how important you are to the fate and future, not just of this district, but in many respects, the fate and future of this country,” Newsom said to campaign workers in the room.

Advertisement

Though Newsom wasn’t physically present in Orange County and Palm Springs for most of the election, he became a central figure in some of the races.

Republican incumbents have been tying their Democratic challengers to Newsom in an effort to scare off moderate voters and stoke their base.

In an ad by GOP Rep. Ken Calvert’s campaign in Congressional District 41, the governor’s face transforms into that of Calvert’s Democratic opponent, Will Rollins.

“He’s slick, loves taxes, and more liberal than Gavin Newsom,” the narrator says as Newsom’s image blends with Rollins’.

The ad claims that Rollins, “just like Newsom,” will drive up gas prices, property and income taxes for residents of the Riverside County district that stretches from Corona to the Coachella Valley and includes Palm Springs.

Advertisement

“We can’t stop Newsom, but we can stop radical Will Rollins,” the ad says.

Newsom brushed off the ad as “politics,” but Rexroad said the governor’s approval ratings in swing districts in California make him an easy foil for the GOP.

A statewide poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, or PPIC, in October found that a majority of voters disapprove of Newsom’s performance as governor. His ratings were worse in the Central Valley, Orange County, San Diego and the Inland Empire, where about 6 in 10 voters disapprove.

Those are the regions where Democrats are working to flip several GOP-held House seats.

“For [Republican Rep.] David Valadao, he would like nothing more than for [Democrat] Rudy Salas and Gavin Newsom to be on the front page of the Bakersfield Californian and all of the other news there for the rest of the election,” Rexroad said. “The governor is extremely unpopular in the Central Valley.”

Advertisement

Newsom didn’t appear over the weekend in the Kern County district where Salas is seeking to oust Valadao (R-Hanford).

The governor pushed back on the idea that Democrats were concerned about appearing with him.

“Folks are looking for all the support they can get consistently and have throughout this campaign,” he said.

In Orange County, Republicans seized on Newsom’s appearance days before he even appeared with Tran.

In a news release, Steel, Tran’s opponent, called out Newsom’s role as his campaign “closer.”

Advertisement

“Bringing Newsom to town tells voters everything they need to know about where Derek Tran’s loyalties lie: With the Sacramento crew that wants to take their tax raising, zero-bail policies to Washington,” Steel said in a statement.

Despite the numbers, former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer said Democratic campaigns are using the governor because they believe he can help. Newsom, she said, is good at “delivering messages that cross over.”

“They are in the closing days, and they know who they want,” Boxer said of the campaigns. “But I really think he’s an asset everywhere because I think he’s an excellent campaigner. He’s a very smart campaigner. He knows the issues that move people. I wouldn’t go by approval ratings — nobody’s off the charts.”

The last few days of an election are largely about increasing turnout and less so about changing minds, or flipping votes, when many voters have already decided on their candidate and turned in ballots.

PPIC pollster Mark Baldassare said it makes sense for congressional campaigns to use Newsom in the waning days of the election to drive Democrats to the polls.

Advertisement

“I don’t really see much of a downside risk,” Baldassare said. “I see the upside of having the most well-known Democrat in California, other than Kamala Harris, out there as a possible motivator for Democrats more than a motivator for Republicans to go the other way.”

Newsom’s late appearances in the congressional districts give him an opportunity to later say he played a part, even if minor, if Democrats win the House. It also limits the potential damage and time GOP campaigns have to use his visits to their advantage.

Despite the critics of Newsom’s election priorities and potential motivations, it’s smart for politicians to campaign in a way that boosts others and themselves, said Thad Kousser, a professor of political science at UC San Diego.

“Politicians do things in their own self-interest,” Kousser said. “But successful politicians do things that help them and their allies, and the savviest politicians do those things very visibly.”

Advertisement

Politics

Trump stirs GOP primary drama with visit to Massie’s Kentucky home turf

Published

on

Trump stirs GOP primary drama with visit to Massie’s Kentucky home turf

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

President Donald Trump is taking his feud with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., to the libertarian lawmaker’s home turf on Wednesday.

Trump is expected to hold an event in Hebron, Kentucky, on Wednesday, the Republican Party of Kentucky announced on social media Monday. It’s located in the northern part of the state’s 4th Congressional District, which Massie represents.

Massie’s primary rival, Ed Gallrein, will attend the Hebron event, his campaign confirmed to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, while deferring all other questions on the matter to the White House.

Massie himself will miss the event due to a previously scheduled official engagement, his spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

Advertisement

KHANNA AND MASSIE THREATEN TO FORCE A VOTE ON IRAN AS PROSPECT OF US ATTACK LOOMS

President Donald Trump will be visiting Rep. Thomas Massie’s congressional district on Wednesday. (Win McNamee/Getty Images; Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

When asked about the visit, White House spokeswoman Liz Huston told Fox News Digital, “President Trump will visit the great states of Ohio and Kentucky on Wednesday to tout his economic victories and detail his Administration’s aggressive, ongoing efforts to lower prices and make America more affordable.”

The president has thrown his considerable influence behind Gallrein to unseat Massie after the GOP lawmaker publicly defied Trump on multiple occasions.

MASSIE, KHANNA TO VISIT DOJ TO REVIEW UNREDACTED EPSTEIN FILES

Advertisement

Massie most recently was one of two House Republicans to vote to stop Trump’s joint operation in Iran with Israel, though the legislation was successfully blocked by the majority of GOP lawmakers and a handful of Democrats.

Ed Gallrein, left, seen with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House. (Ed Gallrein congressional campaign)

He was also one of two Republicans to vote against Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” last year.

Trump in turn has hurled a slew of personal attacks against Massie, including calling him “weak and pathetic” in a statement endorsing Gallrein in October.

“He only votes against the Republican Party, making life very easy for the Radical Left. Unlike ‘lightweight’ Massie, a totally ineffective LOSER who has failed us so badly, CAPTAIN ED GALLREIN IS A WINNER WHO WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN,” Trump posted on Truth Social at the time, one of numerous criticisms targeting the Kentucky Republican through the years.

Advertisement

He called Massie the “worst Republican congressman” in July amid Massie’s bipartisan push to force the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein.

Then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, and Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

But Massie has so far appeared to defy political gravity despite making political enemies out of both Trump and House GOP leaders.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

He handily defeated multiple primary challengers in 2024 and 2022, despite public feuds with Trump, and has served his district since 2012.

Advertisement

Gallrein is a retired Navy SEAL and farmer who launched his campaign days after Trump made his endorsement. Their primary election day is May 19.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Politics

California Democrats launch pricey polling effort to winnow crowded gubernatorial field

Published

on

California Democrats launch pricey polling effort to winnow crowded gubernatorial field

As anxiety mounts among California Democrats about the potential of a Republican being elected governor, the state party will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on polling to assess the viability of the sprawling field of candidates hoping to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to plans released Tuesday.

The move comes after nearly every Democratic candidate refused party leaders’ call last week to withdraw from the race to avoid splitting the vote in the June primary — an outcome that could lead to a Republican being elected to statewide office for the first time in two decades.

“Candidates have filed, and now they’ve got the opportunity to showcase their viability, their path to win. I want to simply ensure that everybody has information to fully understand the current state of the race,” said Rusty Hicks, the leader of the California Democratic Party.

As campaign season ramps up, the series of six polls will allow “candidates, supporters, the media, voters, anyone and everyone to have a clear understanding of what is or is not happening in this particular race,” he said.

The filing deadline to appear on the June 2 ballot was Friday. Three days earlier, Hicks released an open letter urging candidates who did not have a path to victory to withdraw from the race. Of the nine prominent Democrats who had announced runs for governor, only one heeded his call: former state Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon.

Advertisement

That means the eight other candidates’ names will appear on the ballot, regardless of whether they decide to later drop out. And that creates the possibility of a Republican winning the race because of how California elections are decided.

The state has a voter-approved top-two primary system, under which the two candidates who receive the most votes in the June primary advance to the November general election, regardless of party.

Two prominent Republicans will appear on the ballot: former conservative commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. Even though Democratic voters outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1, and the state’s electorate last elevated Republicans to statewide office in 2006, it is mathematically possible for Democrats to splinter the vote, allowing the two GOP candidates to advance.

Under such a scenario, not only would Republicans be guaranteed the leadership of the nation’s most-populous state, but Democratic voter turnout also would probably be depressed in November, potentially affecting down-ballot races such as those that could determine control of Congress.

Hicks’ call last week prompted concerns among candidates of color, including former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, that the effort was aimed at every nonwhite candidate in the race.

Advertisement

The state party chairman responded that his letter was not aimed at any specific candidate.

“It’s not something I lose sleep over,” Hicks said when asked about the racial claims. But he added that the voter surveys will be conducted by Los Angeles-based Evitarus, the state’s only Black- and Latino-led full-service polling firm, and will oversample historically underrepresented communities: Latino, Black and Asian American voters.

Hicks said the polling will cost “multiple six figures” but did not specify the exact amount.

The first poll will be released on March 24, and then five additional surveys will come out every seven to 10 days until voters start receiving mail ballots in early May.

“We’re putting this forward to ensure everyone is armed with the information they need to clearly have an eyes-wide-open assessment of where the state of the race currently is between now and when ballots land in the mailboxes of voters,” Hicks said.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Politics

Trump reveals top issues GOP should focus on to secure midterms victory: ‘I’ve never been more confident’

Published

on

Trump reveals top issues GOP should focus on to secure midterms victory: ‘I’ve never been more confident’

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

President Donald Trump outlined five key items he believes will tip the upcoming midterm elections in the GOP’s favor — if Republicans can muscle them through Congress.

“No transgender mutilation surgery for our children,” Trump told an audience at the Republican Members’ Issues Conference. “Voter ID, citizenship [verification], mail-in ballots, we don’t want men playing in women’s sports.”

It’s the best of Trump. Those are the best of Trump. This is the number one priority, it should be, for the House,” Trump said.

Trump’s exhortations to Republican lawmakers come as the GOP wages an uphill campaign to hang on to a controlling majority in the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. He framed his legislative priorities as a way for Republicans to capitalize on popular demands within the GOP base that would increase their chances of preserving a Republican governing trifecta.

Advertisement

President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One before departing Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 1, 2026. (Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images)

HOUSE REPUBLICANS PUSH ELECTION OVERHAUL WITH VOTER ID, MAIL-IN BALLOT CHANGES AHEAD OF MIDTERMS

Currently, Republicans hold just four more seats than Democrats in the House of Representatives.

The GOP holds six more than Democrats in the Senate.

To keep the numbers in their favor, Republicans will need to beat historical trends. In the vast majority of past cases, parties that capture the White House in presidential elections face blowback in the midterms. Notably, the last time a majority party gained seats in both chambers of Congress in the midterms came under the Bush administration in 2002, following devastating attacks on the World Trade Center.

Advertisement

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, left, and President Donald Trump shake hands during an Invest America roundtable in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, District of Columbia, on June 9, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

REPUBLICANS, TRUMP RUN INTO SENATE ROADBLOCK ON VOTER ID BILL

Trump said he believes Republicans have a shot at bucking the trend come November if they focus on his list.

“It’ll guarantee the midterms,” Trump said of his legislative priorities.

Republicans have already taken strikes towards two of them through the SAVE America Act, a piece of legislation that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and cast a ballot. That bill cleared the House last month for a second time in the 119th Congress.

Advertisement

Its future is uncertain in the Senate, where Republicans would need the assistance of seven Democrats to overcome the 60-vote threshold to defeat a filibuster. Democrats, for their part, believe the legislation would disenfranchise voters who cannot readily provide documented proof of citizenship through a passport, REAL ID, or birth certificate. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. has promised a vote on the package despite its long odds. 

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, talks with a guest during a “Only Citizens Vote Bus Tour” rally in Upper Senate Park to urge Congress to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Several members have introduced bills on transgender issues, although none of them have cleared either chamber.

Advertisement

I’ve never been more confident that if we keep these promises and deliver on this popular agenda, the American people will stand with us in overwhelming numbers, just as they did in 2024,” Trump said.

Continue Reading

Trending