SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Gov. Gavin Newsom has dismissed questions about the race to succeed him in California for much of the last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know my position,\u201d he said to reporters last month. \u201cI don\u2019t talk about this governor\u2019s race.\u201d<\/p>\n
But as his party runs the risk of losing the most powerful office in the state, Newsom recognizes that he may need to step in and endorse one of the Democratic candidates whether he wants to or not.<\/p>\n
California Democrats have put themselves in an unnecessary pickle in the 2026 gubernatorial election: Too many candidates, with few policy distinctions between them, are running to replace Newsom. Opinion polls show no clear favorite and Democrats largely splitting votes. <\/p>\n
The tepid support raises the possibility that two Republicans in the race<\/a> could place first and second in the June primary and advance to the general election. By their own strategic blunder, Democrats could be knocked out of the contest in a state where they outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a disaster everyone saw coming and no Democrat, except perhaps Newsom, has the power to stop, said Thad Kousser, a professor of political science at UC San Diego.<\/p>\n \u201cGavin Newsom\u2019s megaphone is loud enough to echo across this race, leading other prominent members of the party to endorse whomever he chooses and vaulting someone, finally, out of the crowded pack,\u201d Kousser said. \u201cThis could be the last remaining chance for the party to avoid splitting its vote in June and being locked out of November.\u201d<\/p>\n Endorsing a successor before the primary carries inherent risk and perhaps more so for Newsom, who is positioning himself as a potential leading candidate in the 2028 presidential contest. Publicly backing a candidate for governor ties Newsom to the outcome of the race and the candidate. <\/p>\n \u201cIf it doesn\u2019t work, his endorsement would broadcast his political vulnerabilities and attach him to his party\u2019s weakness just at the time when he needs to project his personal strength,\u201d Kousser said. \u201cBut if his intervention rescues the party and elevates his chosen successor into being an overwhelming favorite in the general, it would further elevate his national profile while winning him a close friend in Sacramento.\u201d<\/p>\n Newsom is taking a wait-and-see approach for now, tracking polls to determine whether his intervention is necessary. <\/p>\n President Trump\u2019s decision to endorse conservative commentator Steve Hilton over the weekend could relieve some pressure on Newsom to weigh in. <\/p>\n Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, the top two Republicans in the race, were leading the field of candidates before the president got involved, according to a recent poll by UC Berkeley\u2019s Institute of Governmental Studies<\/a>. <\/p>\n If Trump\u2019s support causes support for Hilton to rise and Bianco to drop, it\u2019s more likely that one Democrat and one Republican will place in the top two in the primary. <\/p>\n Trump\u2019s endorsement left Kousser and other California political observers scratching their heads. If a candidate from each party advances to November, the Democrat is expected to easily win the race because of the voter registration advantage. <\/p>\n Until this week, Newsom had held back from responding to Bianco\u2019s controversial investigation into voter fraud, in which the Sheriff\u2019s Department seized thousands of ballots in Riverside County<\/a>. State Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta led the court challenges. Bianco said he paused his inquiry in late March<\/a>, citing \u201cpolitically motivated lawsuits and court filings.\u201d<\/p>\n But the governor publicly celebrated a California Supreme Court ruling this week that Bianco halt the investigation. <\/p>\n \u201cThis rogue sheriff chased conspiracy theories, tried to undermine our elections, and got the ruling he deserved,\u201d Newsom posted on X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk. \u201cTrump and MAGA\u2019s election denialism is a cancer, a danger to our democracy, and it must be stopped.\u201d <\/p>\n Rob Stutzman, a Republican political consultant in California, compared Newsom\u2019s posts about Bianco to \u201ctrying to return a gift.\u201d The Democratic governor\u2019s attack could boost Bianco\u2019s profile and support among Newsom-hating voters.<\/p>\n \u201cTrump has probably bailed the Democrats out of their dilemma by elevating Hilton and for Newsom\u2019s response to be to elevate and draw attention to Bianco, just doesn\u2019t make any sense, and it\u2019s everything Bianco wanted out of this whole ballot seizure gambit to start with,\u201d Stutzman said. <\/p>\n Newsom\u2019s reluctance to endorse a Democrat in the race is, in part, a reflection of his feelings about leaving a position he\u2019s held for eight years and a recognition of his own \u201csell-by date\u201d in the post. His answers to questions about the contest vary from declining to comment to pointing out that voters don\u2019t appear interested in the race, either. <\/p>\n The focus on national politics, attention Trump draws \u201c24 hours a day\u201d and earlier speculation over whether former Vice President Kamala Harris or U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla would run for governor distracted from the candidates in the field, he said. <\/p>\n \u201cBut when I\u2019m out in the community, people aren\u2019t talking to me about it, which is interesting this late, just weeks and weeks before early voting,\u201d Newsom said in March. \u201cAnd so, as a consequence, I\u2019m not directly as engaged as perhaps I might need to be.\u201d <\/p>\n His comments suggesting that he isn\u2019t paying attention to the race haven\u2019t sat well with some of the candidates. Some Democrats, including San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, were already running against Newsom\u2019s record. <\/p>\n For Newsom, inaction is more risky than picking a losing candidate, Kousser said. Though California\u2019s top-two system and poor leadership from the state party would mostly be to blame if Democrats lose, giving control of California to the GOP would bolster criticism of Newsom\u2019s leadership. <\/p>\n \u201cA Republican victory in the state Newsom leads would be read, on the national stage, as a rejection of his legacy,\u201d Kousser said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Gov. 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