JP

In the words of John Fetterman, Gavin Newsom is "running for President right now" but doesn't have the "guts to announce it." He is thereby avoiding the standard vetting process. Americans deserve to know some basic facts about his governorship: *California had never lost population before Newsom became Governor. We have since led the nation four straight years in U-Haul departures per capita. *California has a record $68 billion deficit while other states have a surplus. Newsom is proposing cuts for foster kids while still offering free health coverage for all undocumented immigrants. *Newsom has spent $20 billion on homelessness the last five years only to have the problem get much worse. Half of all unsheltered homeless in the whole country now live in California. *Under Newsom, California has the nation’s highest real poverty rate. We also have the nation's second highest unemployment and ranked last in personal income growth. *California has the lowest literacy rate in the country. There are 800 California schools where 75 percent of students do not read at grade level. *California has by far the highest gas prices in the continental United States. Newsom has repeatedly raised the gas tax and proposed a whole new gas tax, which even the Supermajority Legislature rejected. Our roads are rated among the worst in the country. *Newsom proclaimed COVID an "opportunity" for a "new progressive era" and proceeded to impose the most extreme school closures and business lockdowns in the nation. California wound up with among the nation's worst health outcomes. *Newsom was the only Governor in America to impose a student vaccine mandate for COVID, which applied to all grade levels. He withdrew it in humiliation when not a single state followed his "lead." *Newsom signed a law called AB 5 that put hundreds of thousands of freelancers and independent contractor out of work. His own deputy chief of staff called it "one of the most destructive pieces of legislation in the past 20 years." *An NPR investigation found that Newsom exaggerated the work he'd done to prevent wildfires by an "astounding 690 percent." Many of the worst fires in state history have occurred on his watch. *Newsom continues to support Prop. 47, the law responsible for California's epidemic of retail theft and smash-and-grabs, when even the mayors of San Francisco and San Jose favor overturning it. *Newsom calls California a "model for the nation."