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During the last year, I’ve written thousands of words predicting that California governor Gavin Newsom would not only fail in his lustful quest for the White House but would not even be nominated. Newsom was too slick, had made too many missteps from the French Laundry fiasco to his shameful muddling of the devastating Palisades fires to advance in the primaries. Lying with impunity is not the path forward toward the presidency. I’ve changed my mind: for Newsom, lying is the most expeditious route to the United States presidency. Dishonesty is a Newsom specialty.

The November 11 wipeout in New York, New Jersey, Virginia and California where Newsom’s Proposition 50 won handily provided insights into the winners flawed political resumes. These are failings that in years past might have automatically removed them from running. New York Mayor Zohan Mamdani is the most glaring example. Although New York has long been a bastion of liberalism, Rudy Giuliani’s two-terms as Republican mayor is within living memory, 1994-2001, and light years away from the socialist, Uganda-born Mamdani who campaigned on the impossible-to-deliver-on platform of free or cheaper goods and services.

Mamdani is an obvious example of deceitful campaigning. But New Jersey provides another good example of what voter failure to do due diligence will yield. Mikie Sherrill, now New Jersey’s newly elected Democratic governor, overcame multiple layers of alleged scandal regarding Naval Academy testing debacle, campaign finance violations and insider trading breeches that violated Federal Election Commission Standards. A New Jersey legislator accused Sherrill of breaking provisions of the federal STOCK Act, which requires members of Congress to promptly disclose stock trades and prohibit the use of nonpublic information for personal financial gain. Since she entered Congress, Sherrill’s trades increased her net worth by more than $7 million. On immigration, an important national concern, Sherrill is terrible. She voted against internal and border enforcement 100% of the time.

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On to Virginia where former congresswoman Abigail Spanberger’s credentials are also bad. Before she resigned her U.S. House seat, Spanberger was an analyst for the disgraced Central Intelligence Agency. She voted straight down the line with President Joe Biden, including on immigration, and thereby apparently satisfied Virginians need for a Biden redo. In the “Old Dominion” state, Democrat Jay Jones beat incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares 53%-47%, despite the Oct. 3 revelation of Jones’s email that he’d like to murder a colleague and see his children die in their mother’s arms. Spanberger refused to repudiate Jones, implicitly endorsing a candidate who fantasized about murdering children.

Since surviving a 2021 recall against Larry Elder and cruising to reelection a year later, Newsom has transformed his governorship into a national platform. He has sparred publicly and often with President Donald Trump, debated Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) on Fox News, appeared on a podcast with Charlie Kirk, and used his Campaign for Democracy PAC to boost Democratic candidates and causes across the country. After Prop. 50 passed, Newsom traveled to Texas where Rep. Jasmine Crockett welcomed him as enthusiastic crowds hailed him. Texas!

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Momentum, aided by a media that refuses to ask tough questions, is propelling Newsom toward the top of the Democrats’ heap. Newsom promotes himself as a Trump-slayer whose Prop. 50, assuming the Supreme Court approves it, will put Congress back in Democrats’ control.

In this era where superficiality wins elections, even if the media exposed the true Newsom to the nation’s 2028 presidential voters, it may not matter. Still, for the curious, a smattering:

*California has a $20 billion budget deficit created in part by Newsom’s ill-advised decision to extend Medi-Cal benefits to all illegal immigrants regardless of age. In May, Newsom announced he would, effective 2026, drastically reverse will save billions that taxpayers spent on illegal aliens’ medical benefits.

*Only two states had wider income gaps than California. Families at the top of the income distribution earned more than 11 times those in lower brackets—$336,000 vs. $30,000.

*Newsom’s bullet train to nowhere is historically American politics’ biggest boondoggle. Originally estimated to cost $33 billion in 2008 with a San Francisco to Los Angeles line set to open by 2028, the California high speed rail system has since ballooned to costing $128 billion, then to $135 billion, with an estimated partial completion being set somewhere in the 2030’s. Last year in March, the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHRSA) confirmed that the system still needed $100 billion to link up San Francisco and Los Angeles.

* Several independent investigations found that the $100 million raised during the FireAid benefit concerts held in January 2025 has not gone to fire victims as promised, but rather to non-profits who often use the funds to support illegal aliens and their advocates.

In early January, the Eaton and Palisades wildfires raged across parts of Los Angeles. By the time they were fully extinguished in late January, 31 people died, over 18,000 structures were destroyed, and tens of thousands of residents were displaced with destroyed or damaged homes. Total property and home loses have been estimated to be between $76 billion and $131 billion. As of June, only 68 rebuild permits have been issued.

Any of these failures should dampen pro-Newsom voters’ enthusiasm. But, given the aversion voters have toward weighing hard facts, the presidential election may hinge on the popularity of Newsom’s heavily gelled hair style, the type of triviality that motivates today’s voters.

Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org

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