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Tag: Newsom

  • Newsom and Trump have vowed to crack down on corporate home buying. A new bill aims to curb it

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    In a rare moment of political alignment last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Trump vowed to crack down on corporate home buying. Now, a new bill aims to make it a reality.

    Assembly Bill 1611, introduced by Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco) in January, would eliminate a “tax loophole” that Haney says corporate landlords and investment firms use to buy up single-family homes across the state.

    “It’s shocking to me that by design, our tax system lets large firms take advantage of tax breaks in order to outbid California families when buying homes,” Haney said. “They’re able to use a tax loophole to give themselves an upper hand.”

    The so-called loophole takes the form of a 1031 exchange — a tax-filing strategy that allows real estate owners to defer capital gains taxes when they sell an investment property, such as a single-family home, as long as they buy a similar “like-kind” property within 180 days. Essentially, it allows investors to replace one investment property with another, avoiding taxes in the process.

    The bill would ban companies that own at least 50 single-family homes from taking advantage of the tax break. It would apply to sales completed after Jan. 1, 2026.

    California has the second-lowest homeownership rate in the country at 56%, and Haney said corporations shouldn’t be shirking real estate taxes in the midst of a housing crisis. The California Department of Finance estimated that during the current fiscal year, the state lost $1.2 billion in revenue due to like-kind exchanges.

    Lenny Goldberg, the policy director for the California Tax Reform Assn., worked with Haney to develop the bill. He said he has viewed like-kind exchanges as a rip-off for years, but it’s an ongoing issue with a powerful lobby behind it.

    “They’re called like-kind exchanges, but they’re not actually like-kind,” he said. “You can exchange an office building for a hotel, or an apartment building for a single-family home.”

    He added that corporate investors aren’t buying up high-end neighborhoods; it’s mostly working-class or middle-class areas, where the affordability crisis is more acute.

    Goldberg said the ban would help in two ways. First, it would result in more tax dollars being paid by corporations. And second, it would stop allowing corporations to dominate bidding wars for homes.

    Currently, corporate owners can afford to bid more on a home than an individual, knowing that when they eventually sell it, they can avoid the capital gains tax by buying a different property, making it a more valuable asset. If they didn’t have access to that benefit, that advantage would be gone.

    He sees it as a modest proposal; a more ambitious effort would be to eliminate like-kind exchanges altogether. But this is a good place to start, and it still lets mom-and-pop landlords or investors who own fewer than 50 properties to take advantage of the tax break, he said.

    The corporate home buying trend became a focal point during the pandemic emergency, when low interest rates sent the housing market into a frenzy, and first-time home buyers competed with investors viewing the house as an asset, not a home. During the second quarter of 2021, 23% of home sales in L.A. County went to investors rather than someone wanting to live there.

    But data show that corporate ownership still makes up a much smaller share of the overall market. Analysis from the California Research Bureau showed that 2.8% of single-family homes in the Golden State are owned by companies that own at least 10 properties.

    The biggest chunk of that appears to be smaller mom-and-pop landlords rather than giant corporations. Companies with more than 50 properties own roughly 110,000 homes in California, whereas companies with 10 to 49 properties, which would be exempt from the ban, own roughly 235,000 properties.

    Haney said now is the right time for the bill, given the momentum provided by Newsom and Trump last month.

    Newsom vowed to take a tougher stance on corporate home buying in his final State of the State speech, saying that “it’s shameful that we allow private equity firms in Manhattan to become some of the biggest landlords in many of our cities.”

    It’s unclear which form the crackdown will take; Newsom said it means more oversight and enforcement, and potentially changing the tax code.

    A few weeks prior, Trump announced immediate steps to ban institutional investors from buying single-family homes, but no specific actions have been announced.

    Haney said it’s also timely in the aftermath of the Palisades and Eaton fires, since data show that investors are flooding the market for burned-out lots, replacing longtime locals. A recent Redfin report said at least 40% of lot sales in fire-damaged areas went to investors in the third quarter of 2025.

    “It shows you that this shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Whatever your political leaning, you should want regular families to have access to homeownership,” Haney said. “Maybe this is one of the rare issues where there’s broad agreement across political stripes, and we can actually solve a problem.”

    A different bill addressing institutional investors, AB 1240, took a different approach. Introduced by Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-San José), it looked to ban investors that own at least 1,000 single-family properties from buying more homes in order to rent them out.

    Nine companies own more than 1,000 single-family homes in California. The largest is Invitation Homes, which owns more than 11,000 homes in the state and has faced a litany of lawsuits related to unpermitted renovations, unfair eviction practices and withheld security deposits.

    Lee’s bill passed the state Assembly last year but stalled after fierce opposition from real estate agents and the California Apartment Assn. It awaits a Senate committee hearing.

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    Jack Flemming

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  • Newsom tells world leaders Trump’s retreat on the environment will mean economic harm

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    SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom told world leaders Friday that President Trump’s retreat from efforts to combat climate change would decimate the U.S. automobile industry and surrender the future economic viability to China and other nations embracing the transition to renewable energy.

    Newsom, appearing at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, urged diplomats, business leaders and policy advocates to forcefully stand up to Trump’s global bullying and loyalty to the oil and coal industry. The California governor said the Trump administration’s massive rollbacks on environmental protection will be short-lived.

    “Donald Trump is temporary. He’ll be gone in three years,” Newsom said during a Friday morning panel discussion on climate action. “California is a stable and reliable partner in this space.”

    Newsom’s comments came in the wake of the Trump administration’s repeal of the endangerment finding and all federal vehicle emissions regulations. The endangerment finding is the U.S. government’s 2009 affirmation that planet-heating pollution poses a threat to human health and the environment.

    Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin said the finding has been regulatory overreach, placing heavy burdens on auto manufacturers, restricting consumer choice and resulting in higher costs for Americans. Its repeal marked the “single largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States of America,” he said.

    Scientists and experts were quick to condemn the action, saying it contradicts established science and will put more people in harm’s way. Independent researchers around the world have long concluded that greenhouse gases released by the burning of gasoline, diesel and other fossil fuels are warming the planet and worsening weather disasters.

    The move will also threaten the U.S.’s position as a leader in the global clean energy transition, with nations such as China pulling ahead on electric vehicle production and investments in renewables such as solar, batteries and wind, experts said.

    Newsom’s trip to Germany is just his latest international jaunt in recent months as he positions himself to lead the Democratic Party’s opposition to Trump and the Republican-led Congress, and to seed a possible run for the White House in 2028. Last month Newsom traveled to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and in November to the U.N. climate summit in Belém, Brazil — mocking and condemning Trump’s policies on Greenland, international trade and the environment.

    When asked how he would restore the world’s confidence in the United States if he were to become president, Newsom sidestepped. Instead he offered a campaign-like soliloquy on California’s success on fostering Tesla and the nation’s other top electric vehicle manufactures as well as being a magnet for industries spending billions of dollars on research and development for the global transition away from carbon-based economies.

    The purpose of the Munich conference was to open a dialogue among world leaders on global security, military, economic and environmental. Along with Friday’s discussion on climate action, Newsom is scheduled to appear at a livestreamed forum on transatlantic cooperation Saturday.

    Andrew Forrest, executive chairman of the Australia-based mining company giant Fortescue, said during a panel Friday his company is proof that even the largest energy-consuming companies in the world can thrive without relying on the carbon-based fuels that have driven industries for more than a century. Fortescue, which buys diesel fuel from countries across the world, will transition to a “green grid” this decade, saving the company a billion dollars a year, he said.

    “The science is absolutely clear, but so is the economics. I am, and my company Fortescue is, the industrial-grade proof that going renewable is great economics, great business, and if you desert it, then in the end, you’ll be sorted out by your shareholders or by your voters at the ballot box,” Forrest said.

    Newsom said California has also shown the world what can be done with innovative government policies that embrace electric vehicles and the transition to a non-carbon-based economy, and continues to do so despite the attacks and regressive mandates being imposed by the Trump administration.

    “This is about economic prosperity and competitiveness, and that’s why I’m so infuriated with what Donald Trump has done,” Newsom said. “Remember, Tesla exists for one reason — California’s regulatory market, which created the incentives and the structure and the certainty that allowed Elon Musk and others to invest and build that capacity. We are not walking away from that.”

    California has led the nation in the push toward EVs. For more than 50 years, the state enjoyed unique authority from the EPA to set stricter tailpipe emission standards than the federal government, considered critical to the state’s efforts to address its notorious smog and air-quality issues. The authority, which the Trump administration has moved to rescind, was also the basis for California’s plan to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035.

    The administration again targeted electric vehicles in its announcement on Thursday.

    “The forced transition to electric vehicles is eliminated,” Zeldin said. “No longer will automakers be pressured to shift their fleets toward electric vehicles, vehicles that are still sitting unsold on dealer lots all across America.”

    But the efforts to shut down the energy transition may be too little, too late, said Hannah Safford, former director of transportation and resilience at the White House Climate Policy Office under the Biden administration.

    “Electric cars make more economic sense for people, more models are becoming available, and the administration can’t necessarily stop that from happening,” said Safford, who is now associate director for climate and environment at the Federation of American Scientists.

    Still, some automakers and trade groups supported the EPA’s decision, as did fossil fuel industry groups and those geared toward free markets and regulatory reform. Among them were the Independent Petroleum Assn. of America, which praised the administration for its “efforts to reform and streamline regulations governing greenhouse gas emissions.”

    Ford, which has invested in electric vehicles and recently completed a prototype of a $30,000 electric truck, said in a statement to The Times that it appreciated EPA’s move “to address the imbalance between current emissions standards and consumer choice.”

    Toyota, meanwhile, deferred to a statement from Alliance for Automotive Innovation president John Bozzella, who said similarly that “automotive emissions regulations finalized in the previous administration are extremely challenging for automakers to achieve given the current marketplace demand for EVs.”

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    Phil Willon, Hayley Smith

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  • Meet the un-Gavin. Kentucky’s governor sees a different way to the White House

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    FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gavin Newsom was in his element, moving and shaking amid the rich and powerful in Davos.

    He scolded European leaders for supposedly cowering before President Trump.

    He drew disparaging notice during a presidential rant and captured headlines after being blocked from delivering a high-profile speech, allegedly at the behest of the White House.

    All the while, another governor and Democratic presidential prospect was mixing and mingling in the rarefied Swiss air — though you probably wouldn’t know it.

    Flying far below the heat-seeking radar, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear leaned into the role of economic ambassador, focusing on job creation and other nutsy, boltsy stuff that doesn’t grab much notice in today’s performative political environment.

    Like Newsom, Beshear is running-but-not-exactly-running for president. He didn’t set out to offer a stark contrast to California’s governor, the putative 2028 Democratic front-runner. But he’s doing so just the same.

    Want someone who’ll match Trump insult for insult, over-the-top meme for over-the-top meme and howl whenever the president commits some new outrage? Look to Sacramento, not Frankfort.

    “I think by the time we reach 2028, our Democratic voters are gonna be worn out,” Beshear said during a conversation in his state’s snowy capital. “They’re gonna be worn out by Trump, and they’re gonna be worn out by Democrats who respond to Trump like Trump. And they’re gonna want some stability in their lives.”

    Every candidate enters a contest with a backstory and a record, which is condensed to a summary that serves as calling card, strategic foundation and a rationale for their run.

    Here’s Andy Beshear’s: He’s the popular two-term governor of a red state that three times voted overwhelmingly for Trump.

    He is fluent in the language of faith, well-liked by the kind of rural voters who have abandoned Democrats in droves and, at age 48, offers a fresh face and relative youth in a party that many voters have come to see as old and ossified.

    The fact he’s from the South, where Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton emerged the last time Democrats experienced this kind of existential freak-out, also doesn’t hurt.

    Beshear’s not-yet-candidacy, still in the fledgling phase, offers a mix of aspiration and admonition.

    Democrats, he said, need to talk more like regular people. Addiction, not substance use disorder. Hunger, not food assistance.

    And, he suggested, they need to focus more on things regular people care about: jobs, healthcare, public safety, public education. Things that aren’t theoretical or abstract but materially affect their daily lives, like the costs of electricity, car insurance and groceries.

    “I think the most important thing we should have learned from 2024 is [Democratic voters are] gonna be looking for somebody that can help them pay that next bill,” Beshear said.

    He was seated in the Old Governor’s Mansion, now a historic site and Beshear’s temporary office while the nearby Capitol undergoes a years-long renovation.

    The red-brick residence, built in the Federal style and completed in 1798, was Beshear’s home from age 6 to 10 when his father, Steve, lived there while serving as lieutenant governor. (Steve Beshear went on to serve two terms as the state’s chief executive, building a brand and a brand name that helped Andy win his first public office, attorney general, in 2015.)

    It was 9 degrees outside. Icicles hung from the eaves and snowplows navigated Frankfort’s narrow, winding streets after an unusually cold winter blast.

    Inside, Beshear was seated before an unlit fireplace, legs crossed, shirt collar unbuttoned, looking like the pleasantly unassuming Dad in a store-bought picture frame.

    He bragged a bit, touting Kentucky’s economic success under his watch. He spoke of his religiosity — his grandfather and great-grandfather were Baptist preachers — and talked at length about the optimism, a political rarity these days, that undergirds his vision for the country.

    “I think the American people feel like the pendulum swung too far in the Biden administration. Now they feel it’s swung way too far during the Trump administration,” Beshear said. “What they want is for it to stop swinging.”

    He went on. “Most people when they wake up aren’t thinking about politics. They’re thinking about their job, their next doctor’s appointment, the roads and bridges they drive, the school they drop their kids off at, and whether they feel safe in their community.

    “And I think they desperately want someone that can move the country, not right or left ideologically, but actually forward in those areas. And that’s how I think we heal.”

    Beshear doesn’t shy from his Democratic pedigree, or stray from much of the party’s orthodoxy.

    Seeking reelection in 2023, he seized on the abortion issue and the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe vs. Wade to batter and best his Republican opponent.

    He’s walked the picket line with striking auto workers, signed an executive order making Juneteenth a state holiday and routinely vetoed anti-gay legislation, becoming the first Kentucky governor to attend an LGBTQ+ celebration in the Capitol Rotunda.

    “Discrimination against our LGBTQ+ community is unacceptable,” he told an audience. “It holds us back and, in my Kentucky accent, it ain’t right.”

    For all of that, Beshear doesn’t shrink from taking on Trump, which, essentially, has become a job requirement for any Democratic officeholder wishing to remain a Democratic officeholder.

    After the president’s rambling Davos address, Beshear called Trump’s remarks “dangerous, disrespectful and unhinged.”

    “From insulting our allies to telling struggling Americans that he’s fixed inflation and the economy is amazing, the President is hurting both our families’ financial security and our national security,” Beshear posted on social media. “Oh, and Greenland is so important he’s calling it Iceland.”

    But Beshear hasn’t turned Trump-bashing into a 24/7 vocation, or a weight-lifting contest where the winner is the critic wielding the heaviest bludgeon.

    “I stand up to him in the way that I think a Democratic governor of Kentucky should. When he’s doing things that hurt my state, I speak out,” Beshear said. “I filed 20 lawsuits, I think, and we’ve won almost all of them, bringing dollars they were trying to stop from flowing into Kentucky.

    “But,” he added, “when he does something positive for Kentucky, I also say that too, because that’s what our people expect.”

    Asked about the towel-snapping Newsom and his dedicated staff of Trump trollers, Beshear defended California’s governor — or, at least, passed on the chance to get in a dig.

    “Gavin’s in a very different situation than I’m in. I mean, he has the president attacking him and his state just about every day,” Beshear said. “So I don’t want to be critical of an approach from somebody that’s in a very different spot.

    “But the approach also has to be unique to you. For me, I bring people together. We’ve been able to do that in this state. That’s my approach. And in the end, I’ve gotta stay true to who I am.”

    And when — or make that if — both Newsom and Beshear launch a formal bid for president, they’ll present Democratic voters a clear choice.

    Not just between two differing personalities. Also two considerably different approaches to politics and winning back the White House.

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    Mark Z. Barabak

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  • ‘It’s time to investigate’: Newsom slams alleged suppression of anti-Trump TikTok content

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    Newsom announced he is investigating reports that TikTok is suppressing anti-Trump content days after the platform averted a nationwide ban by finalizing a U.S. ownership deal backed by Trump.

    “Following TikTok’s sale to a Trump-aligned business group, our office has received reports — and independently confirmed instances — of suppressed content critical of President Trump,” the governor’s press office said in a Monday evening statement on X.

    The announcement comes after a flurry of online complaints that videos criticizing Trump, such as those condemning ICE actions in Minnesota or speaking out against the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents, are either getting zero views or far lower view counts than normal.

    The new U.S.-based company TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC has not publicly responded to the allegations of censorship. However, the company said in a Monday statement that it was grappling with a power outage at a U.S. data center that was causing a “cascading systems failure.”

    Among the issues the platform advised creators to look out for were zero views or likes on videos, slower load times and timed-out requests. Thousands of user issues were being reported throughout the day Monday, according to outage tracker Downdetector.

    Newsom’s press office said the governor was calling on the California Department of Justice to review whether the application violates state law by censoring content that is unfavorable to Trump. The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    “It’s time to investigate,” Newsom wrote on X while reposting a screenshot showing a TikTok user being prevented from sending a message saying “epstein.” The screenshot says, “This message may be in violation of our Community Guidelines, and has not been sent to protect our community.”

    The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson told the Washington Post that the White House “is not involved in, nor has it made requests related to, TikTok’s content moderation.”

    Internet personality Preston Stewart, who makes informational videos about war and national security topics, said that two videos he posted Monday simply disappeared while another video received zero views despite him having 1.3 million followers.

    “I’ve seen folks suggest this is targeted but from what I’m seeing it’s across platform affecting everyone,” Stewart wrote on X.

    Nonetheless, frustration continued to spread online among creators, celebrities and elected officials who did feel like the view suppression was deliberate.

    State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) stated that TikTok is “now state controlled media” in a Monday morning statement on X. He shared a screenshot showing that a video he posted about his legislative proposal to allow people to sue ICE agents received zero views compared to thousands of views on his regular content.

    “TikTok is dead. Killed by the regime & the corrupt kleptocrats suckling at its teat,” he wrote in a Monday evening X post, reposting another screenshot, this time showing extremely low view counts on CNN’s recently shared videos.

    TikTok finalized a deal Thursday to spin off its U.S. operations into a new majority-American joint venture with investors including Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX. The $14-billion deal puts Larry Ellison, a co-founder of Oracle and a longtime Trump supporter and donor, in a powerful position over the app’s operations in America.

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    Clara Harter

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  • Watch: Memorial service honors Rep. Doug LaMalfa in Chico; House speaker, Gov. Newsom are attending

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    A public memorial service to honor the late Congressman Doug LaMalfa is being held at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico on Saturday.Watch the video leading this story for a livestream of the service beginning at noon.House Speaker Mike Johnson and a delegation of members of Congress are among the attendees honoring their Republican colleague. The gathering is also bipartisan with Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff in attendance.LaMalfa died on Jan. 5 while in surgery at Enloe Hospital following a medical emergency at his home.Memorial Service Updates The memorial began with a color presentation by the Unified Northstate Honor Guard and the singing of the National Anthem by Alexandria Jones.Mark Lavy, a second cousin of LaMalfa, was the first speaker at the service. He recalled LaMalfa’s life story, including how he met his wife Jill, the moment he knew he would be a Republican and key moments in his political career.Other speakers at the memorial include: Speaker Johnson; Ray Sehorn, LaMalfa’s sixth grade teacher; former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy; LaMalfa’s congressional chief of staff Mark Spannagel; Paradise Mayor Mark Spannagel; David Reade, LaMalfa’s former chief of staff in the Assembly; and Assemblymember James Gallagher.LaMalfa’s wife and his children were also set to deliver a family tribute.LaMalfa represented California’s District 1 in Washington for more than a decade and was the chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus. The district includes a large portion of California’s northernmost area, including Oroville, Yuba City, Chico, Redding and the California-Oregon state boundary.As a fourth-generation rice farmer, LaMalfa heavily advocated for his agricultural constituents. The congressman also worked to provide wildfire victims and survivors in his district with relief and recovery efforts and to bolster the state’s water resources.Before being elected to the U.S. House in 2012, LaMalfa served in the California State Assembly and State Senate. Earlier this month, a bill previously championed by LaMalfa advanced in the California Assembly. AB 1091 would allow Californians to purchase eight-character license plates.LaMalfa is survived by Jill, his four children, one grandchild, two sisters and a host of cousins.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    CHICO, Calif. —

    A public memorial service to honor the late Congressman Doug LaMalfa is being held at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico on Saturday.

    Watch the video leading this story for a livestream of the service beginning at noon.

    House Speaker Mike Johnson and a delegation of members of Congress are among the attendees honoring their Republican colleague. The gathering is also bipartisan with Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff in attendance.

    This content is imported from Twitter.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

    LaMalfa died on Jan. 5 while in surgery at Enloe Hospital following a medical emergency at his home.

    Memorial Service Updates

    The memorial began with a color presentation by the Unified Northstate Honor Guard and the singing of the National Anthem by Alexandria Jones.

    Mark Lavy, a second cousin of LaMalfa, was the first speaker at the service. He recalled LaMalfa’s life story, including how he met his wife Jill, the moment he knew he would be a Republican and key moments in his political career.

    Other speakers at the memorial include: Speaker Johnson; Ray Sehorn, LaMalfa’s sixth grade teacher; former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy; LaMalfa’s congressional chief of staff Mark Spannagel; Paradise Mayor Mark Spannagel; David Reade, LaMalfa’s former chief of staff in the Assembly; and Assemblymember James Gallagher.

    LaMalfa’s wife and his children were also set to deliver a family tribute.

    LaMalfa represented California’s District 1 in Washington for more than a decade and was the chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus. The district includes a large portion of California’s northernmost area, including Oroville, Yuba City, Chico, Redding and the California-Oregon state boundary.

    As a fourth-generation rice farmer, LaMalfa heavily advocated for his agricultural constituents. The congressman also worked to provide wildfire victims and survivors in his district with relief and recovery efforts and to bolster the state’s water resources.

    Before being elected to the U.S. House in 2012, LaMalfa served in the California State Assembly and State Senate.

    Earlier this month, a bill previously championed by LaMalfa advanced in the California Assembly. AB 1091 would allow Californians to purchase eight-character license plates.

    LaMalfa is survived by Jill, his four children, one grandchild, two sisters and a host of cousins.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • California becomes first state to join a World Health Organization network, Newsom’s office says

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    California becomes first state to join GOARN, a World Health Organization network, Newsom’s office says

    The news comes after the Trump administration withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization

    Thank you all for for joining us um and I actually want to start you, uh. You or your, you tweeted last or posted last night that this was that this was the tweets, the, the conversation, and yes, thank you for joining us, Governor and thank you so much to the WF for hosting this. This is the conversation that Donald Trump tried to cancel. Don’t miss it 11:30 Pacific. Thank you to our Pacific Time viewers. Um, in fact, this is *** different conversation in the WeF’s defense. It was the privately run USA House which is endorsed by the State Department, funded by. Big American companies which did pull *** pull an event with you with Fortune yesterday and I guess I wondered to begin with, what does that tell you about the way the US private sector, which is really very heavily represented here, so you’re gonna get me in trouble right off the bat moment. uh, I, I looked at the, I admit looking at the list McKinsey and Microsoft and *** few California companies. Uh, so you have you, what the hell are they even talking about, uh, but it’s indicative, I think, of America, uh, for those of you are not American. It gives you *** sense of what we’re up against, um, and what’s happening across my country, uh, and what happened here, um, in, in Davos. I was gonna speak last night. It was well established event at the USA House, *** simple conversation discussion after Trump’s speech. They made sure that I didn’t, uh, they made sure it was canceled, um. And that’s what’s happening in the United States of America. Freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech. Um, it’s America in reverse. Uh, they’re censoring historical facts. They’re rewriting history. Uh, they’re censoring books, 4340 books, libraries, and in schools banned in the United States of America. Uh, you’re watching institutions. Any institution of independent thinking is under assault and attack by the Trump administration. You’re seeing what’s playing out in the streets of American cities, what played out in California, the second largest city in the United States of America. 4000 National Guard were federalized. 700 active duty Marines were not sent overseas. They were sent to my largest city in the state of California, masked men. Guy Greg Bovino dressed up it’s as if he literally went on eBay and purchased SS garb. Greg Bovino, secret police, private army, masked men, people disappearing, quite literally no due process, windows being smashed. Seat belts on being, you know, literally just sort of cut off people dragged in the streets, kids separated from family, knocking on doors, racially profiling American citizens. So is it surprising the Trump administration didn’t like my commentary. And wanted to make sure that I was not allowed to speak. No, it’s consistent with this administration and their authoritarian tendencies. Forgive me, these are objective facts, but I would say this was not just to be clear, this was *** private enterprise endorsed by the State Department, but. These are, these are *** lot of decisions are being made by private companies right now. This is, you know, this is *** capital, this is the probably the central global gathering of CEOs, and I guess I wonder if you can give me *** review of how you see these folks, and you, you know, you know your way around this world, how you see those people behaving. Society becomes how we behave. We are our behaviors, uh, we’re not bystanders in this world. The world we’re experiencing happened on our watch. So in the relationship to your question, yeah, they’re complicit in some respects to this moment, you know, forgive me, you brought up *** tweet, but part of my approach has been *** little more aggressive than perhaps *** lot of American politicians. Uh, I created *** Patriot site. Uh, in, on the site, uh, you can go, there are knee pads that are available to purchase, um. The the last round of knee pads sold out just as our law firms are selling out. Many American universities are selling out, and yes, many corporate leaders are selling out to this administration, selling out our values, selling out our future. Selling out what makes America great. And it breaks my heart and uh and people need to stand up. Uh, people need to uh you know, courage of their damn convictions. Uh we’re the 250th anniversary of the United States of America this year. It’s the 250th anniversary. The best of the Roman Republic, Greek democracy, co-equal branches of government, the rule of law, popular sovereignty. Tell me that that reflects the America you read about today. There’s no rule of law. It’s the rule of Don. I hope it’s. Hope for Europeans, it’s dawning on you. It’s not the rule of law. You don’t have co-equal branches of government. You have *** supine Congress. You don’t have *** Speaker of the House. It doesn’t exist. Popular sovereignty and being challenged every single day by voter suppression, trying to rig elections. I mean, heck, Donald Trump tried to steal the election, the last election, tried to light democracy on fire, and then pardoned everyone that participated in that. Is anyone paying attention to what the hell is going on in the United States of America? So my state of mind is *** little different perhaps than many others. I won’t be complicit at this moment. I won’t. I can’t. I can’t look my kids in the eyes. And so I’m I’m just blessed that I get to represent *** state that’s larger than the size of 21 US states combined. Uh, where 27% of us are foreign born, we practice pluralism. That’s *** word you haven’t heard in America in *** year, uh, where we dominate in every critical category in terms of energy and daring and entrepreneurialism and innovation, uh, and, and, and look, give me *** category. In California outperforms the 4th largest economy in the world, and so we can punch above our weight. We can come here with formal authority and *** little moral authority, and I tell you, we need *** little moral authority. Our body politic in the United States of America today. Governor, you, how do you balance morning everybody. Sorry, I, I figured we would. Yeah, um. You’re ***, you’re, you’re *** tough interview, Governor. The uh the uh. and, and when I think you have chosen *** sort of if you can’t beat them join them strategy to the way you’re talking about this stuff you talk, you know, you, you know, you’re, you’re running around distributing knee pads to CEOs and, and, and, and I think it does them out and it, it does I do have *** few if you’d like, and I don’t know, and honestly it sounds, and you, by the way, I’m not kidding, they’re the new Trump signature series knee pads, um, yeah, and they are available online. I told you the last one sold out, uh, and, uh. And I, I just wanna sort of it’s *** serious moment. It actually, but we laugh, uh, anyway, these are available, uh, and in bulk too, but I wanna, I wanna read you *** couple of things the US government has said about you in, in the last 24 hours or so. The Treasury, the US government, the Treasury Secretary, when you put it, the Treasury Secretary described you as Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken. The White House communications director, hold on, was this, that was the US Secretary of Treasury. I have *** couple more and then, and then you can respond. Um, the White House communications director called you Gavin Newscombe, and *** and an official White House account, uh, um, you know, *** federal government account described you with ***, that’s *** very online sexual slur that people here probably don’t want to hear at 8:30 in the morning. Um, and you’re in some sense responding in kind and waving the knee pads around fire with fire. Do you think, do you should you, I mean, is that, is that kind of discourse from you, from them good for America? Oh, it’s deeply unbecoming. Come on, of course it is. It’s not what we should be doing, but you’ve got to point out the absurdity. You gotta put *** mirror up to this. This is madness. President, you, you see what he’s saying about European leaders, you talking down to people, talking past people. I mean, look at the, the comments he made yesterday we’re not even discussing because you’re discussing all the other comments about windmills or whatever else that was happening. Well, he talked about Somalia’s community. This is not normal. It’s *** deviation of normalcy. We’ve gotta call it out. So I put *** mirror up to Trump and Trumpism in all caps, and it was ironic because Pravda, Fox News in America, uh, others, you know, they got offended by it. They said, Well, where’s his mother to wash his mouth out with soap. I said, Where the hell have you been? You’ve never said *** word about Trump dressing up as the Pope, uh, tweeting out and cosplaying on the world stage, and so look, the Treasury Secretary talked about *** Barbie doll. It was as if he was reading *** diary and had just broken up with someone. I mean that was the Secretary of the Treasury using valuable time yesterday on the world stage. Some sexual, thank you for not sharing that on the official White House account. We’re deeply in their head. I think the affordability agenda appears to be, I’m living rent-free in the Trump’s head, Trump administration’s head. Um, the, um, the, the most talked about speech here in Davos actually isn’t what wasn’t Donald Trump’s address yesterday, it was, it was the Canadian Prime Minister speech. Um, it was Canadian Prime Minister, uh, Mark Carney the day before who talked about, I don’t know, in, in large terms *** bit the middle powers, everybody except for, for, for China and the US, we had to adapt permanently to *** world without. leadership, I, I guess I wonder, I mean, that’s in some sense *** pretty anti-American point of view. That’s, that’s *** view that America is gone from the world stage, that whether the next president is JD Vance, Gavin Newsom, somebody else, this isn’t *** deviation, as you said, this is permanent. Do you buy that? Do you, do you buy Carney’s point of view? I was, you know, I, I felt there were moments, and forgive me, I should be cautious making this statement. I don’t want it to be over analyzed, but when I was listening to the, uh, EU president speak, I, I, I, there were moments where I said that used to be us. I used to, I, I remember that. So am I surprised by what Carney did? Quite the contrary, I thought it was, I, I had more leaders from the United States quietly, I mean, not publicly, I’m not standing up publicly. The transcript of that speech saying wow. They were, I mean, got in Trump said yesterday he had brought it, he brought it up. You know everything about Trump because it’s what’s not in the teleprompter that tells you everything you need to know about where Trump’s head is on things. Um, it was incredibly effective. The markets were more effective markets. It’s not Mother Nature. I thought the most powerful force on Earth with Mother Nature, but it’s the markets, particularly the Trump administration. Combine that with the comments of Macron, combine that with the EU commissioner, but the clarity that came from Prime Minister of Canada. But the fact that he went to China, came back with *** deal, started introducing low cost, high quality electric vehicles not made in Michigan, Detroit. But overseas into Canada, it says everything you know about the recklessness. Of America’s foreign policy. Everything you need to know, you know it intimately, but it’s *** remarkable thing to break down 80+ years of alliances. It takes decades and decades to build trust in organizations, the architecture that it takes weeks, tweets, hours, minutes sometimes to destroy it. Destruction is not strength. The Trump administration is weakness masquerading as strength, and people need to understand that that’s reflected in the tweets, that’s reflected in canceling people, that’s reflected in sending masked men into the American cities. It’s reflected at this moment, so I respect what Carney did because he had courage of convictions. He stood up. And I think we need to stand up in America and call this out with clarity. We can lose our republic as we know it. Our country become unrecognizable in *** matter of months, just not years. It is code red blinking red. In the United States of America, so forgive me, I, I feel this with passion, some indignity that someone frankly has taken it for granted all of these years, and it’s why I came here to Davos to call it out, and I wish there were more of us doing the same because there are more of us. And on that, I just forgive me, I want you to know Donald Trump is an historic president. That’s absolutely correct. He’s historically unpopular. In the United States of America in every category, he’s underwater. He will be remembered in years, not decades. He’s not going to run again. Time of life denies that, not *** state of mind, but time of my life. But we need to manifest that, and we need to do the hard work and that hard work includes the difficult work of coming to Davos and calling that out. This is not where I wanna be spending. I love you all my time. Uh, and, and so, um, anyway, it’s an extension of the conviction I feel about this moment talking about people who, among other things, aren’t American, maybe be concerned for America, but are making decisions about their own politics, their own countries, and what Carney Carney’s core point was this is *** rupture, this isn’t an anomaly, and, and there’s no going back. And do you think that, I mean, do you think there’s *** different an American leader can bring, I think, I, I think these relationships are in dormancy, they’re not dead. I don’t use those binary terms. Don’t, don’t, don’t fall prey to that. That’s *** bit hyperbolic, and I’m prone to *** little of that at times. Uh, dormancy. We can look, he’s an invasive species, Donald Trump. He’s not. He is. Uh, he took over the Republican Party. They’re, they’re just, uh, I mean, uh, he’s got, you know, *** few of them, uh, Lindsey Graham, I mean, my, uh, speaking of the knee pads, uh. I’m sorry, this is tough stuff. It’s tough stuff. I don’t recognize these people any longer. I used to respect Lindsay. I mean, Lindsay, you think what I’m saying about Trump’s tough. How about what Lindsey Graham said about Trump? How about the Secretary of State Marco Rubio? Do you, do you I mean this is, these are the same people. And this is why we, for things to change, we need to change, and that’s why I’m changing my approach. And again I’m grateful you all took that. I mean, I suppose. Do you think post-Trump there’s *** path back because you see this everywhere to kind of unsolve politics that you’re doing here, which you, I see you said you don’t really enjoy it. You kind of seem to. I’m just putting *** mirror up. Just, you gotta. I was doing my 10 point plans before, and I don’t think any of you would have been here this morning had I done that. Oh, they would have been here. No, I, because it just, it wasn’t working. Everyone’s trying to figure this guy out. How do Mark Carney crowd? Yeah, no, but it’s, how do you, how do you, how do you communicate? How do you respond? To This moment. And it’s for me it’s about iteration. It’s an entrepreneurial spirit. It’s *** very California mindset. You gotta keep increasing the number of tries, and I was trying everything, wasn’t working, wasn’t breaking through. Democratic Party writ large, wasn’t breaking through, and we decided the only way to address Trump is quite literally to fight fire with fire. I did an initiative, Prop 50 in California was to reflect the fact that Donald Trump called an American politician and said in the middle of the decade to the governor of the state of Texas, I am entitled. Greg Abbott to 5 seats, and I need you to redraw district lines, mid-year redistricting to rig the 2026 election before 1 vote is cast. What the Trump administration expected we were going to do, as no good Democrats do, we might write an op ed. And we may, you know, all go out and just say this is just so wrong, and all of us would be applauding and say, yes, yes. You know, as he’s consolidating power, instead we went out and we redraw our maps. And we also drew *** line in the sand, and I think that’s what’s required at this moment, and uh he he susses out weakness like no one else. That’s his great strength, that’s his gift. But you punch back. You fight fire with fire, you display conviction and strength, it’s *** different relationship. And so my relationship to this moment is reflected in that. I’m not naive, these guys are gonna try to take me down, not just my state. I’m not naive about what I’ve said this morning and how that will be reflected in the official White House account. I’m not naive about the fact that he threatened to prosecute. The Fed chief in the United States of America that has subpoena against another sitting governor, Tim Waltz. Who’s literally going after his enemies with the FBI and the DOJ and these power ministries. I’m not naive about any of this. I’m not naive about the corruption and the graft at *** scale we’ve never seen in American history. I’m not naive about folks writing billion dollar checks to Witkoff, to Jared Kushner for this new peace deal they’re announcing today. I’m not naive about the fact that the President of the United States made $1.5 billion in the last 12 months personally. How the hell are we putting up with this? We have to call this out unprecedented in American history, happening in real time on our watch. We have to be held to *** higher level, all of us, myself notably, to *** higher level of accountability at this moment. And um You know 11 of what I think one of the main reasons that you know that that he has been successful is, is because the Democratic Party is so discredited in the in the eyes of so many voters. Um, I have *** couple of questions about that. One is big picture about California people, you know, you’re in the midst of ***, you know, enormous economic boom right now, and yet the state is on one hand running deficits and on the other. Not always delivering services that it’s, you know, from education to health care that your citizens are delighted with and and I guess I wonder how can you know how are voters looking at California looking at New York looking at Chicago. You know, supposed to say, yeah, this is the model we want. Well, I’m proud of my state. We have more Fortune 500 companies than any other state in America, more scientists, engineers, more more Nobel laureates in my state than any state in America, the finest system of higher public education in the world. Uh, we have 18% of the world’s R&D, China, 22%, Germany 21%, California, 18% of the world’s R&D. We’re the center of the universe as it relates to AI. 32 of 50, but, but what about the governance? Well, the governance, we’re one of the lowestinsured rates in America. You mentioned healthcare. Uh, we just did our state of education report which showed in every category, every classroom, uh, making progress with our test scores. Our investments are paying off. Just did *** big state of the state. The idea that these blue states have trouble are are spending more for less results, I don’t know, higher life expectancy, lower infant mortality, lower gun death rates, more productivity, higher wages, higher quality of life. $83.1 billion that was the net contribution that we provided to the federal government versus red state like Texas that was *** taker state of $73.1 billion so we’re producing more and people are I think creating more. Opportunities. So look, are there problems? You, for instance, you’re supporting the mayor of LA for re-election after these, these, these terrible fires that *** lot of, you know, *** lot of your citizens do feel was part in part because of government mismanagement. Do you just reject that narrative that the government has anything to do with I absolutely accept that. We all should be held to *** higher level of accountability in terms of our governance, and I think there are many areas of reforms that are necessary, so many areas of reforms that are underway. We can get into the specifics of any one of these issues, but the general notion that in the middle of winter with 100 mile an hour winds or attached to *** fire, that somehow, by the way, There were 16 major fires in Southern California over *** two week period that somehow that had to do with fire hydrants is rather preposterous and it was shape shift because of the complete *** that came from Donald Trump and Elon Musk, saying somehow the sprinklers didn’t work and the fire hydrants didn’t work because we didn’t turn on *** valve in Northern California. These are literal. Words from the Trump administration, uh, so I do reject that. Uh, do I reject this notion of being self-critical about governance and management across the spectrum? No, that’s fair game. And the probably the, the biggest governance issue policy issue fueling right wing parties in the United States around the country is immigration and, and, you know, I think liberal parties again in, in the US and around the world. Had *** posture of welcoming immigrants that it just turned out *** lot of Americans, *** lot of Californians, but more Americans are unhappy with legal illegal immigration, the out of control border, but also. It’s, it’s the last issue on which Trump, though his numbers have been sliding, remained somewhat popular, and I guess I wonder, do you think, do you think that your party went too far or that you went too far? And I think, for instance, you know, in extending, um, medical to the, the California health care program to undocumented immigrants. Like, do you, two different, I guess on the big picture and the small picture, do you feel like you went too far? Two different questions. Uh, do I believe. In universal healthcare, yes, regardless of pre-existing conditions, ability to pay, and your status, I campaigned on that. We delivered on that, and I’m proud of that. We’re one of 16 states to provide care to people regardless of their immigration status. By the way, we have universal care in emergency rooms, and you pay the price on the back end, at least Americans, uh, for that regardless of your immigration status. But the issue of immigration, uh, Donald Trump is very unpopular on immigration. He’s successful on the board. Separate issue connected and yes, the Democratic Party failed in the last few years on the border and yes, I was critical of that and yes, I put our own National Guard on the border the day I got elected into office in 2019, sent 394 National Guard down to the border, and we were very, very pointed with the Biden administration that we were failing to deliver border security for *** number of years on the larger immigration issue. I happen to share the same old office of Ronald Reagan, governor of California, who decided in his last day in office at the White House and he gave *** love letter to immigrants from around the world. It was *** love letter to America, what distinguishes America from the rest of the globe. He talked about lady Torch, Lady Liberty’s torch, and he talked about uh the vibrancy of newcomers, people coming all over the globe for riches and new beginnings, becoming Americans, and what defines our great nation. And that’s the spirit that defines my mindset. Getting first round draft choices around the rest of the world is what makes California so vibrant. It’s because of that diversity and it’s because of people’s willingness to dare and to match up with ideas and perspectives and backgrounds to come in to make *** go of it that has made California the 4th largest GDP in the world, but we have failed on the border. And Donald Trump is failing on immigration. His economic policy is not complicated. It’s tariffs, which is *** regressive tax. It’s mass deportations. Which is having *** major impact on supply chains, and you’ve seen the American jobless rate. You’re seeing it growing, the unemployment rate in America. Besson didn’t talk about this. They had the worst jobs numbers in the first year of the Trump administration outside *** recession since 2003. 49,000 jobs *** month. The Biden administration last year was averaging 168,000 jobs *** month. Inflation is not lowering, it’s still at 2.7%. Ask folks what *** pound of beef costs in the United States of America or *** brand new car. Everything you heard yesterday was BS. And it’s impacted by these policies of tariffs that are impacting ranchers and farmers and small business folks, *** major tax that they celebrate, *** tax that they celebrate collecting, which is ironic from the Republican Party. And the third leg of the stool is *** massive tax cut away from the wealthy and the privileged. Taxing now the burden on small businesses and working folks, that’s the policy easily described of America’s economic strategy, and it’s *** failed strategy, and the impacts of that strategy are being felt all throughout the United States of America, including my state that has been disproportionately impacted, uh, by, uh, these policies. So I’m, I’m very critical of those. I’m critical of our assault on institutions of higher learning research. Institutions, uh, that have literally been, I mean they’re part of that formula for success. The rest of the world gets that, uh, and he’s putting sand in the gears across that spectrum, uh, and, uh, in California again, uh, is, is fighting and pushing back and well, some of those, uh, those first round draft picks got, you know, incredible contracts and are now in, um, made quite *** lot of money and are now. Very freaked out threatening to leave California over *** proposal that just to uh be clear, you oppose to tax to for *** sort of one-time tax on, on, on the wealth of the very, very, very wealthy Californians, and I guess I wanna ask you two questions. One is I was talking to somebody progressive here who said, you know, this guy’s basically *** fake populist. He talks *** good game about the billionaires. Here is an actual proposal that they’re unhappy about, and you’re on the other side. You’re standing with, you know, Elon Musk and David Sachs on this. Why is that, uh. Or one time wealth tax at *** state level that almost exclusively goes to solve one problem, healthcare. And not solving for larger issues like education, supporting. Police officers and firefighters and starves the rest of the general fund. That has had already the impact of people moving out of our state. And impacting then the annual income tax collection is not something I support, um, and by the way, vast majority of labor does not support as well, uh, and, and that’s reflected in my opposition. What’s not reflected in my opposition, quite the contrary, is my advocacy for progressive taxes. That does tax the wealthy disproportionately. Do you have *** theory? I’ve been *** strong advocate for that. Do you have *** theory on how to tax this particular group who often kind of live in this, and I’m sure you know there are people in this room who do this, but who live on debt, you know, who have no income and live on these sort of giant revolving loans. Yeah, I mean that when you, you could have that conversation, I think the wealth tax is sort of an attempt to get at that, yeah, but at *** national level we’re competing with 50 states. Capital flows and move, that’s real. It’s not imagined. It’s very, very real. So we have *** progressive tax structure, the most progressive in the country, by the way, states like Texas and Florida, the most regressive tax structures. They tax their lowest wage earners more than we tax our highest wage earners. They are the high tax states. We have the highest tax rate for the 1%. But for working folks and middle class it’s *** very different tax structure. That’s the approach we promote. That’s the approach that we advance in our state. But again, our state of mind as it relates to the issue of *** state by state wealth tax, the impact of that has to be considered in the context of how freely capital can move and how that’s already occurred. It’s not just an assertion, it’s in evidence already in the state of California as it relates to *** proposal that hasn’t gone on the ballot. *** proposal that has never gotten through the legislature and *** proposal that likely if it did get on the ballot will lose. Would you campaign against it? I’m opposed to it. It’s already had, I think, *** very negative impact on the state and it’s *** badly drafted. Initiative again that literally takes teachers and takes our educational system out of any consideration of support and impacts other parts of our general fund. It is *** flawed initiative and then I think conversely these, these folks who control it *** ton of capital and as you said, some are actually already leaving, have been leaving. How do you, you know, over this, but I think also over *** sense that California, the Democratic leadership broadly. You know, complains about billionaires *** lot. Doesn’t, is, is, is not, does not give them the, uh, you know, love and respect that they feel that they’re entitled to. You know, how do you, what you, I mean, you actually, you, you, you talk to these folks. Some, some of them support you, some don’t. But what, what, what are you saying as you call people up and say, hey, please don’t leave California. What’s your, well, California’s population 3 years in *** row continues to grow, uh, and so does our footprint as it relates to more Fortune 500 companies than we’ve had in over, uh, 2 decades, uh, and. Our innovation ecosystem and startup ecosystem is second to none. We have half of the country’s unicorns in our state, the largest market cap private sector company, uh, OpenAI, just headquartered in San Francisco. They could have chosen any other state in the country. Look, I don’t begrudge other people’s success. I’ve never been that kind of Democrat. But I also recognize in *** world, uh, businesses can’t thrive in *** world that’s failing. 10% of the wealth is concentrated, or rather 2/3 of the wealth in the United States is concentrated in the hands of just 10%, 10% of our consumer spending. Uh, this imbalance, I mean, it was Plutarch who said it to the Athenians 2000 years ago. The imbalance between the rich and the poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics. Fast forward today, so this concentration, it’s *** very real issue, and we’re gonna have to address that. And, but we have to address it, I think, very thoughtfully and systemically, and I think we have to have it through the lens of *** national, uh, reform. What we’ve done is the exact opposite with HR 1, which is gonna explode deficits. In the United States of America and debt and again it’s transferred the tax burden to small businesses, farmers, and ranchers. Uh, it is an abomination and it’s *** policy unfortunately the Trump administration is very proud of. Do you think *** national reform is enough? I mean, *** lot of this capital is really global. It’s, I mean, this is *** challenge for all of us across the globe and so the challenge is. Do you have *** redistribution mindset or *** predistribution mindset? Do you have *** progressive tax structure that can balance these things? And this is the iteration in the state of California, and this is our approximation, and I think California’s figured it out in many respects. I mean, our economic, our, our entire entrepreneurial system is thriving. In our state where I think found that balance, we had the highest contribution of venture capital last year in our history, $106 billion 68% of it went back into the state of California, despite our progressive tax structure. Well, you know, from the tweets to Plutarch, thank you, thank you so much, Governor. Thank you guys. Thank you everybody for being here. Thank you. Thank you for the tweets.

    California becomes first state to join GOARN, a World Health Organization network, Newsom’s office says

    The news comes after the Trump administration withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization

    Updated: 4:42 PM PST Jan 23, 2026

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    California has become the first — and so far only — state to join the World Health Organization’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), Gov. Newsom’s office announced on Friday. The news comes a day after the United States finalized its withdrawal from the WHO. (Video Above: Gov. Newsom’s full talk at the 2026 World Economic Forum)Newsom’s office said GOARN is a WHO-coordinated network that brings together hundreds of public health institutions, national governments, labs, academic centers and response organizations across the globe. “The Trump administration’s withdrawal from the WHO is a reckless decision that will hurt all Californians and Americans. California will not bear witness to the chaos this decision will bring,” Newsom said in a news release. “We will continue to foster partnerships across the globe and remain at the forefront of public health preparedness, including through our membership as the only state in WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network.”Although the California Department of Public Health is the only state-led institution included in GOARN, there are several other U.S.-based entities, including academic institutions and crisis response organizations. The One Health Institute from UC Davis is also listed as a GOARN partner. Newsom’s office said the governor met with WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during his recent trip to Switzerland to discuss the collaboration. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

    California has become the first — and so far only — state to join the World Health Organization’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), Gov. Newsom’s office announced on Friday.

    The news comes a day after the United States finalized its withdrawal from the WHO.

    (Video Above: Gov. Newsom’s full talk at the 2026 World Economic Forum)

    Newsom’s office said GOARN is a WHO-coordinated network that brings together hundreds of public health institutions, national governments, labs, academic centers and response organizations across the globe.

    “The Trump administration’s withdrawal from the WHO is a reckless decision that will hurt all Californians and Americans. California will not bear witness to the chaos this decision will bring,” Newsom said in a news release. “We will continue to foster partnerships across the globe and remain at the forefront of public health preparedness, including through our membership as the only state in WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network.”

    Although the California Department of Public Health is the only state-led institution included in GOARN, there are several other U.S.-based entities, including academic institutions and crisis response organizations. The One Health Institute from UC Davis is also listed as a GOARN partner.

    Newsom’s office said the governor met with WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during his recent trip to Switzerland to discuss the collaboration.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Commentary: How’s Newsom doing at Davos? Just ask Trump

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    What’s the absolute best way to give Gov. Gavin Newsom free publicity and a worldwide audience?

    Freeze him out at Davos, where the rich and powerful are meeting in the snow-capped mountains of Switzerland. The Trump administration is learning the hard way, in real time, that petty comes with a price — in this case, being laughed at by, well, the world.

    And while Congress, Europe and law may hold no terrors for our president, we all know ridicule hits him in his soft, white underbelly.

    In case you missed it, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the California governor has been banned from a scheduled media talk (allegedly under pressure from the White House) that was going to be a rebuttal to Trump’s ramble at the event, according to Newsom’s office.

    On Wednesday, Newsom’s team announced that he had been turned away from USA House, the privately run but official gathering spot of the United States. Newsom was scheduled to do a fireside chat with Fortune magazine, but apparently when he arrived at the church-turned-conference hall, he was politely told to beat it.

    “How weak and pathetic do you have to be to be this scared of a fireside chat?” Newsom posted on X.

    Cue the outrage. Cue the coverage.

    Fortune didn’t know the snub was coming, according to screen shots of private text messages reviewed by The Times, but within minutes it was world news. Except maybe on CBS.

    That’s a lot of focus on a guy who isn’t even a billionaire and doesn’t run a country, and supposedly isn’t even in the presidential race yet. In case you’re not personally familiar with the gathering at Davos, it’s pretty much the kings (and occasional queen) of the world coming together to think big thoughts. Getting cold-shouldered in that crowd is a big deal.

    But it’s the kind of big deal that makes Newsom look good. Blackballing him from USA House was akin to screaming in his face that he’s a big meanie and the president wasn’t going to take it any more. So there!

    It’s funny. It’s powerful. It gets him the kind of news coverage that other not-yet-candidates dream about.

    It makes it clear that far from the useful foil that the Newsom-Trump rivalry is often explained as, Newsom is hitting on points that are hitting home. With Trump, and with voters. And now, maybe with world leaders — which just makes him that much more viable as a candidate. Without a doubt, this is Trump quashing dissent.

    Earlier in the day, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went after Newsom, calling Newsom “Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken.”

    That’s a reference to the overly suave serial killer in the film “American Psycho” crossed with a popular 1990s version of a male Barbie known for its pretty eyes and good hair. To be fair, Newsom does resemble both of them.

    That remark came in response to Newsom calling Bessent’s speech “smug” for suggesting that the average American couple was buying up homes as rentals for their retirements. Personally, like most of us, I can’t even afford an extra Barbie doll house, so to be fair, Newsom is right on that one.

    Newsom also scored points off Trump’s speech. He called it “boring,” the most vicious insult you can hurl at Trump. But it was.

    For more than an hour, Trump repeatedly called Greenland Iceland by mistake, while demanding it be turned over to him.

    Yawn.

    He went after windmills because “they kill the birds, they ruin your landscapes.”

    Wut?

    He went after Minnesota with a particularly rabid if overused bit of racism, because it “reminds us that the West cannot mass import foreign cultures, which have failed to ever build a successful society of their own.”

    Yuck.

    As Newsom pointed out in a press gaggle not too long afterward — right before being banned from his formal talk — for an American audience, it’s the same ugly drivel we’ve been subjected to for nearly a year. Absolutely none of it is fresh, though it remains awful and dangerous.

    “My God, there wasn’t anything new about that speech,” Newsom said. “It was remarkably insignificant.”

    It was certainly not a speech that won Trump credibility or support from those kings and queens. It certainly did not contain diplomacy or leadership, or frankly, even sense. Despite the laughter and applause from the audience, I doubt there are few if any outside of Trump’s team who would call it a success.

    But for Newsom, Davos is a win.

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    Anita Chabria

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  • Echoing Trump, Newsom vows crackdown on corporate homebuying in California

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    In his final State of the State speech, Gov. Gavin Newsom took aim at a group that some say contribute to California’s housing affordability crisis: corporate landlords.

    Newsom vowed to take a tougher stance toward institutional investors, such as hedge funds and private equity groups, that buy up hundreds or thousands of homes in order to rent them out.

    “It’s shameful that we allow private equity firms in Manhattan to become some of the biggest landlords in many of our cities,” he said, adding that the practice crushes the dream of home ownership and raises rents for Californians.

    It’s unclear exactly which form the crackdown will take.

    “Over the next few weeks we will work with the Legislature to combat this monopolistic behavior, strengthen accountability and level the playing field for working families,” he said. “That means more oversight and enforcement, and potentially changing the state tax code to make this work.”

    It’s a rare moment of political alignment between Newsom and President Trump, who vowed a similar directive in a social media post in which he announced immediate steps to ban institutional investors from buying single-family homes.

    The post sent shockwaves through the market, lowering stock prices of corporate housing giants such as Invitation Homes and Blackstone Inc., but no specific actions have been announced.

    In California’s case, Newsom will have to work with the state legislature. The bill that most closely aligns with the initiative is AB 1240, which seeks to ban investors that own at least 1,000 single-family properties from buying more homes in order to rent them out.

    The bill, introduced by Assemblymember Alex Lee, passed the state Assembly last year but stalled after fierce opposition from real estate agents and the California Apartment Assn. It awaits a Senate committee hearing.

    Institutional investment in real estate became a focal point during the pandemic, when low interest rates sent the housing market into a frenzy, and first-time homebuyers competed with investors viewing the house as an asset, not a home. During the second quarter of 2021, 23% of home sales in L.A. County went to investors rather than someone wanting to live there.

    But data show that corporate ownership makes up a much smaller share of the market. Analysis from the California Research Bureau showed that 2.8% of single-family homes in the Golden State are owned by companies that own at least 10 properties.

    The biggest chunk of that appears to be smaller mom-and-pop landlords rather than giant corporations. Roughly 80,000 homes are owned by companies with more than 100 properties, while nearly 235,000 homes are owned by companies with 10 to 49 properties.

    Still, renters across the state have faced problems with institutional investors. In 2024, Invitation Homes, the largest corporate landlord in California with more than 11,000 homes, agreed to pay $20 million to resolve allegations of unpermitted renovations. That same year the company agreed to pay $48 million to settle allegations of unfair eviction practices and withheld security deposits.

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    Jack Flemming

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  • California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta opts against running for governor. Again.

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    California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced Sunday that he would not run for California governor, a decision grounded in his belief that his legal efforts combating the Trump administration as the state’s top prosecutor are paramount at this moment in history.

    “Watching this dystopian horror come to life has reaffirmed something I feel in every fiber of my being: in this moment, my place is here — shielding Californians from the most brazen attacks on our rights and our families,” Bonta said in a statement. “My vision for the California Department of Justice is that we remain the nation’s largest and most powerful check on power.”

    Bonta said that President Trump’s blocking of welfare funds to California and the fatal shooting of a Minnesota mother of three last week by a federal immigration agent cemented his decision to seek reelection to his current post, according to Politico, which first reported that Bonta would not run for governor.

    Bonta, 53, a former state lawmaker and a close political ally to Gov. Gavin Newsom, has served as the state’s top law enforcement official since Newsom appointed him to the position in 2021. In the last year, his office has sued the Trump administration more than 50 times — a track record that would probably have served him well had he decided to run in a state where Trump has lost three times and has sky-high disapproval ratings.

    Bonta in 2024 said that he was considering running. Then in February he announced he had ruled it out and was focused instead on doing the job of attorney general, which he considers especially important under the Trump administration. Then, both former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced they would not run for governor, and Bonta began reconsidering, he said.

    “I had two horses in the governor’s race already,” Bonta told The Times in November. “They decided not to get involved in the end. … The race is fundamentally different today, right?”

    The race for California governor remains wide open. Newsom is serving the final year of his second term and is barred from running again because of term limits. Newsom has said he is considering a run for president in 2028.

    Former Rep. Katie Porter — an early leader in polls — late last year faltered after videos emerged of her screaming at an aide and berating a reporter. The videos contributed to her dropping behind Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican, in a November poll released by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by The Times.

    Porter rebounded a bit toward the end of the year, a poll by the Public Policy Institute of California showed, however none of the candidates has secured a majority of support and many voters remain undecided.

    California hasn’t elected a Republican governor since 2006, Democrats heavily outnumber Republicans in the state, and many are seething with anger over Trump and looking for Democratic candidates willing to fight back against the current administration.

    Bonta has faced questions in recent months about spending about $468,000 in campaign funds on legal advice last year as he spoke to federal investigators about alleged corruption involving former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, who was charged in an alleged bribery scheme involving local businessmen David Trung Duong and Andy Hung Duong. All three have pleaded not guilty.

    According to his political consultant Dan Newman, Bonta — who had received campaign donations from the Duong family — was approached by investigators because he was initially viewed as a “possible victim” in the alleged scheme, though that was later ruled out. Bonta has since returned $155,000 in campaign contributions from the Duong family, according to news reports.

    Bonta is the son of civil rights activists Warren Bonta, a white native Californian, and Cynthia Bonta, a native of the Philippines who immigrated to the U.S. on a scholarship in 1965. Bonta, a U.S. citizen, was born in Quezon City, Philippines, in 1972, when his parents were working there as missionaries, and immigrated with his family to California as an infant.

    In 2012, Bonta was elected to represent Oakland, Alameda and San Leandro as the first Filipino American to serve in California’s Legislature. In Sacramento, he pursued a string of criminal justice reforms and developed a record as one of the body’s most liberal members.

    Bonta is married to Assemblywoman Mia Bonta (D-Alameda), who succeeded him in the state Assembly, and the couple have three children.

    Times staff writer Dakota Smith contributed to this report.

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    Kevin Rector, Seema Mehta

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  • State of the State: Gavin Newsom to deliver final address as California governor

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    Gov. Gavin Newsom is set to deliver his final State of the State address as the state’s governor this Thursday.Newsom will host the address at the state Capitol in front of a joint session of the Legislature, the first time he has done so since 2020. In recent years, he has opted for writing letters to the Legislature, releasing pre-recorded messages or touring across the state to issue new policies and initiatives.Ahead of the address, the governor’s office offered brief outlines of themes Newsom is expected to touch upon. One topic includes homelessness and California’s efforts to resolve the state’s mental health crisis.Housing affordability, education and investment in public schools are other topics outlined. The governor also plans on addressing public safety, violent crime, and theft across the state, and the various levels of law enforcement working to handle those issues.Another major topic Newsom is expected to address is climate initiatives and how California’s policies have implications both nationally and globally.Newsom’s office also shared that Newsom will convey that California is a stable democracy, an economic engine with conscience, and a “functioning alternative to Donald Trump’s federal dysfunction.” The State of the State address begins at 10:30 a.m. Thursday.Because there is a two-term limit on holding the office of California governor, Newsom will not be able to run for a third term.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

    Gov. Gavin Newsom is set to deliver his final State of the State address as the state’s governor this Thursday.

    Newsom will host the address at the state Capitol in front of a joint session of the Legislature, the first time he has done so since 2020. In recent years, he has opted for writing letters to the Legislature, releasing pre-recorded messages or touring across the state to issue new policies and initiatives.

    Ahead of the address, the governor’s office offered brief outlines of themes Newsom is expected to touch upon. One topic includes homelessness and California’s efforts to resolve the state’s mental health crisis.

    Housing affordability, education and investment in public schools are other topics outlined. The governor also plans on addressing public safety, violent crime, and theft across the state, and the various levels of law enforcement working to handle those issues.

    Another major topic Newsom is expected to address is climate initiatives and how California’s policies have implications both nationally and globally.

    Newsom’s office also shared that Newsom will convey that California is a stable democracy, an economic engine with conscience, and a “functioning alternative to Donald Trump’s federal dysfunction.”

    The State of the State address begins at 10:30 a.m. Thursday.

    Because there is a two-term limit on holding the office of California governor, Newsom will not be able to run for a third term.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Billionaire tax proposal sparks soul-searching for Californians

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    The fiery debate about a proposed ballot measure to tax California’s billionaires has sparked some soul-searching across the state.

    While the idea of a one-time tax on more than 200 people has a long way to go before getting onto the ballot and would need to be passed by voters in November, the tempest around it captures the zeitgeist of angst and anger at the core of California. Silicon Valley is minting new millionaires while millions of the state’s residents face the loss of healthcare coverage and struggle with inflation.

    Supporters of the proposed billionaire tax say it is one of the few ways the state can provide healthcare for its most vulnerable. Opponents warn it would squash the innovation that has made the state rich and prompt an exodus of wealthy entrepreneurs from the state.

    The controversial measure is already creating fractures among powerful Democrats who enjoy tremendous sway in California. Progressive icon Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) quickly endorsed the billionaire tax, while Gov. Gavin Newsom denounced it .

    The Golden State’s rich residents say they are tired of feeling targeted. Their success has not only created unimaginable wealth but also jobs and better lives for Californians, they say, yet they feel they are being punished.

    “California politics forces together some of the richest areas of America with some of the poorest, often separated by just a freeway,” said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at UC San Diego. “The impulse to force those with extreme wealth to share their riches is only natural, but often runs into the reality of our anti-tax traditions as well as modern concerns about stifling entrepreneurship or driving job creation out of the state.”

    The state budget in California is already largely dependent on income taxes paid by its highest earners. Because of that, revenues are prone to volatility, hinging on capital gains from investments, bonuses to executives and windfalls from new stock offerings, and are notoriously difficult for the state to predict.

    The tax proposal would cost the state’s richest residents about $100 billion if a majority of voters support it on the November ballot.

    Supporters say the revenue is needed to backfill the massive federal funding cuts to healthcare that President Trump signed this summer. The California Budget & Policy Center estimates that as many as 3.4 million Californians could lose Medi-Cal coverage, rural hospitals could shutter and other healthcare services would be slashed unless a new funding source is found.

    On social media, some wealthy Californians who oppose the wealth tax faced off against Democratic politicians and labor unions.

    An increasing number of companies and investors have decided it isn’t worth the hassle to be in the state and are taking their companies and their homes to other states with lower taxes and less regulation.

    “I promise you this will be the final straw,” Jessie Powell, co-founder of the Bay Area-based crypto exchange platform Kraken, wrote on X. “Billionaires will take with them all of their spending, hobbies, philanthropy and jobs.”

    Proponents of the proposed tax were granted permission to start gathering signatures Dec. 26 by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber.

    The proposal would impose a one-time tax of up to 5% on taxpayers and trusts with assets, such as businesses, art and intellectual property, valued at more than $1 billion. There are some exclusions, including property.

    They could pay the levy over five years. Ninety percent of the revenue would fund healthcare programs and the remaining 10% would be spent on food assistance and education programs.

    To qualify for the November ballot, proponents of the proposal, led by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, must gather the signatures of nearly 875,000 registered voters and submit them to county elections officials by June 24.

    The union, which represents more than 120,000 healthcare workers, patients and healthcare consumers, has committed to spending $14 million on the measure so far and plans to start collecting signatures soon, said Suzanne Jimenez, the labor group’s chief of staff.

    Without new funding, the state is facing “a collapse of our healthcare system here in California,” she said.

    Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) spoke out in support of the tax.

    “It’s a matter of values,” he said on X. “We believe billionaires can pay a modest wealth tax so working-class Californians have the Medicaid.”

    The Trump administration did not respond to requests for comment.

    The debate has become a lightning rod for national thought leaders looking to target California’s policies or the ultra-rich.

    On Tuesday, Sanders endorsed the billionaire tax proposal and said he plans to call for a nationwide version.

    “This is a model that should be emulated throughout the country, which is why I will soon be introducing a national wealth tax on billionaires,” Sanders said on X. “We can and should respect innovation, entrepreneurship and risk-taking, but we cannot respect the extraordinary level of greed, arrogance and irresponsibility that is currently being displayed by much of the billionaire class.”

    But there isn’t unanimous support for the proposal among Democrats.

    Notably, Newsom has consistently opposed state-based wealth taxes. He reiterated his opposition when asked about the proposed billionaires’ tax in early December.

    “You can’t isolate yourself from the 49 others,” Newsom said at the New York Times DealBook Summit. “We’re in a competitive environment. People have this simple luxury, particularly people of that status, they already have two or three homes outside the state. It’s a simple issue. You’ve got to be pragmatic about it.”

    Newsom has opposed state-based wealth taxes throughout his tenure.

    In 2022, he opposed a ballot measure that would have subsidized the electric vehicle market by raising taxes on Californians who earn more than $2 million annually. The measure failed at the ballot box, with strategists on both sides of the issue saying Newsom’s vocal opposition to the effort was a critical factor.

    The following year, he opposed legislation by a fellow Democrat to tax assets exceeding $50 million at 1% annually and taxpayers with a net worth greater than $1 billion at 1.5% annually. The bill was shelved before the legislature could vote on it.

    The latest effort is also being opposed by a political action committee called “Stop the Squeeze,” which was seeded by a $100,000 donation from venture capitalist and longtime Newsom ally Ron Conway. Conservative taxpayer rights groups such as the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. and state Republicans are expected to campaign against the proposal.

    The chances of the ballot measure passing in November are uncertain, given the potential for enormous spending on the campaign — unlike statewide and other candidate races, there is no limit on the amount of money donors can contribute to support or oppose a ballot measure.

    “The backers of this proposed initiative to tax California billionaires would have their work cut out for them,” said Kousser at UC San Diego. “Despite the state’s national reputation as ‘Scandinavia by the Sea,’ there remains a strong anti-tax impulse among voters who often reject tax increases and are loath to kill the state’s golden goose of tech entrepreneurship.”

    Additionally, as Newsom eyes a presidential bid in 2028, political experts question how the governor will position himself — opposing raising taxes but also not wanting to be viewed as responsible for large-scale healthcare cuts that would harm the most vulnerable Californians.

    “It wouldn’t be surprising if they qualify the initiative. There’s enough money and enough pent-up anger on the left to get this on the ballot,” said Dan Schnur, a political communications professor who teaches at USC, Pepperdine and UC Berkeley.

    “What happens once it qualifies is anybody’s guess,” he said.

    Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, called Newsom’s position “an Achilles heel” that could irk primary voters in places like the Midwest who are focused on economic inequality, inflation, affordability and the growing wealth gap.

    “I think it’s going to be really hard for him to take a position that we shouldn’t tax the billionaires,” said Gonzalez, whose labor umbrella group will consider whether to endorse the proposed tax next year.

    California billionaires who are residents of the state as of Jan. 1 would be impacted by the ballot measure if it passes . Prominent business leaders announced moves that appeared to be a strategy to avoid the levy at the end of 2025. On Dec. 31, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel announced that his firm had opened a new office in Miami, the same day venture capitalist David Sacks said he was opening an office in Austin.

    Wealth taxes are not unprecedented in the U.S. and versions exist in Switzerland and Spain, said Brian Galle, a taxation expert and law professor at UC Berkeley.

    In California, the tax offers an efficient and practical way to pay for healthcare services without disrupting the economy, he said.

    “A 1% annual tax on billionaires for five years would have essentially no meaningful impact on their economic behavior,” Galle said. “We’re funding a way of avoiding a real economic disaster with something that has very tiny impact.”

    Palo Alto-based venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya disagrees. Billionaires whose wealth is often locked in company stakes and not liquid could go bankrupt, Palihapitiya wrote on X.

    The tax, he posted, “will kill entrepreneurship in California.”

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    Seema Mehta, Caroline Petrow-Cohen

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  • California’s role in shaping the fate of the Democratic Party and combating Trump on full display

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    California’s potential to lead a national Democratic comeback was on full display as party leaders from across the country recently gathered in downtown Los Angeles.

    But is the party ready to bet on the Golden State?

    Appearances at the Democratic National Committee meeting by the state’s most prominent Democrats, former Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Gavin Newsom, crystallized the peril and promise of California’s appeal. Harris failed to beat a politically wounded Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race and Newsom, now among President Trump’s most celebrated critics, is considered a top Democratic contender to replace the Republican president in the White House in 2028.

    California policies on divisive issues such as providing expanded access to government-sponsored healthcare, aiding undocumented immigrants and supporting LGBTQ+ rights continually serve as a Rorschach test for the nation’s polarized electorate, providing comfort to progressives and ammunition for Republican attack ads.

    “California is like your cool cousin that comes for the holidays who is intriguing and glamorous, but who might not fit in with the family year-round,” said Elizabeth Ashford, a veteran Democratic strategist who worked for former Govs. Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Harris when she was the state’s attorney general.

    Newsom, in particular, is quick to boast about California being home to the world’s fourth-largest economy, a billion-dollar agricultural industry and economic and cultural powerhouses in Hollywood and the Silicon Valley. Critics, Trump chief among them, paint the state as a dystopian hellhole — littered with homeless encampments and lawlessness, and plagued by high taxes and an even higher cost of living.

    Only two Californians have been elected president, Republicans Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. But that was generations ago, and Harris and Newsom are considering bids to end the decades-long drought in 2028. Both seized the moment by courting party leaders and activists during the three-day winter meeting of the Democratic National Committee that ended Saturday.

    Harris, speaking to committee members and guests Friday, said the party’s victories in state elections across the nation in November reflect voters’ agitation about the impacts of Trump’s policies, notably affordability and healthcare costs. But she argued that “both parties have failed to hold the public’s trust.”

    “So as we plan for what comes after this administration, we cannot afford to be nostalgic for what was, in fact, a flawed status quo, and a system that failed so many of you,” said Harris, who was criticized after her presidential campaign for not focusing enough on kitchen table issues, including the increasing financial strains faced by Americans.

    While Harris, who ruled out running for governor earlier this year, did not address whether she would make another bid for the White House in 2028, she argued that the party needed to be introspective about its future.

    “We need to answer the question, what comes next for our party and our democracy, and in so doing, we must be honest that for so many, the American dream has become more of a myth than a reality,” she said.

    Many of the party leaders who spoke at the gathering focused on California’s possible role in determining control of Congress after voters in November approved Proposition 50, a rare mid-decade redrawing of congressional districts in an effort to boost the number of Democrats in the state’s congressional delegation in the 2026 election.

    Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass rallied the crowd by reminding them that Democrats took back the U.S. House of Representatives during Trump’s first term and predicted the state would be critical in next year’s midterm elections.

    Mayor Karen Bass speaks at the Democratic National Committee Winter Meeting at the InterContinental Hotel in downtown Los Angeles on Friday.

    (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

    Newsom, who championed Proposition 50, basked in that victory when he strode through the hotel’s corridors at the DNC meeting the day before, stopping every few feet to talk to committee members, shake their hands and take selfies.

    “There’s just a sense of optimism here,” Newsom said.

    Democratic candidates in New Jersey and Virginia also won races by a significant margin last month which, party leaders say, were all telltale signs of growing voter dissatisfaction with Trump and Washington’s Republican leadership.

    “The party, more broadly, got their sea legs back, and they’re winning,” Newsom said. “And winning solves a lot of problems.”

    Louisiana committee member Katie Darling teared up as she watched fellow Democrats flock to Newsom.

    “He really is trying to bring people together during a very difficult time,” said Darling, who grew up in Sacramento in a Republican household. “He gets a lot of pushback for talking to and working with Republicans, but when he does that, I see him talking to my mom and dad who I love, who I vehemently disagree with politically. … I do think that we need to talk to each other to move the country forward.”

    Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks as his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom looks on

    Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks as his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom looks on during an election night gathering at the California Democratic Party headquarters on November 04, 2025 in Sacramento.

    (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

    Darling said she listens to Newsom’s podcast, where his choice of guests, including the late Charlie Kirk, and his comments on the show that transgender athletes taking part in women’s sports is “deeply unfair” have drawn outrage from some on the left.

    Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, another potential 2028 presidential candidate whose family has historically supported Newsom, was also reportedly on site Thursday, holding closed-door meetings. And former Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, also a possible White House contender, was in Los Angeles on Thursday, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show and holding meetings.

    Corrin Rankin, chair of the California Republican Party, cast the DNC meetings in L.A. as “anti-Trump sessions” and pointed to the homeless encampments on Skid Row, just blocks from where committee members gathered.

    “We need accountability and solutions that actually get people off the streets, make communities safer and life more affordable,” Rankin said.

    Elected officials from across the nation are drawn to California because of its wellspring of wealthy political donors. The state was the largest source of contributions to the campaign committees of Trump and Harris during the 2024 presidential contest, contributing nearly a quarter of a billion dollars, according to the nonpartisan, nonprofit organization Open Secrets, which tracks electoral finances.

    While the DNC gathering focused mostly on mundane internal business, the gathering of party leaders attracted liberal groups seeking to raise money and draw attention to their causes.

    Actor Jane Fonda and comedian Nikki Glaser headlined an event aimed at increasing the minimum wage at the Three Clubs cocktail bar in Hollywood. California already has among the highest minimum wages in the nation; one of the organizers of the event is campaigning to increase the rate to $30 per hour in some California counties.

    “The affordability crisis is pushing millions of Americans to the edge, and no democracy can survive when people who work full time cannot afford basic necessities,” Fonda said prior to the event. “Raising wages is one of the most powerful ways to give families stability and hope.”

    But California’s liberal policies have been viewed as a liability for Democrats elsewhere, where issues such as transgender rights and providing healthcare for undocumented immigrants have not been warmly received by some blue-collar workers who once formed the party’s base.

    Trump capitalized on that disconnect in the closing months of the 2024 presidential contest, when his campaign aired ads that highlighted Harris’ support of transgender rights, including taxpayer-funded gender-affirming surgery for inmates.

    “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you,” the commercial stated. The ad aired more than 30,000 times in swing states in the fall, notably during football games and NASCAR races.

    “Kamala had 99 problems. California wasn’t one of them,” said John Podesta, a veteran Democratic strategist who served a senior advisor to former President Biden, counselor to former President Obama and White House chief of staff for former President Clinton.

    He disputed the argument that California, whether through its policies or candidates, will impact Democrats’ chances, arguing there’s a broader disconnect between the party and its voters.

    “This sense that Democrats lost touch with the middle class and the poor in favor of the cultural elite is a real problem,” said Podesta. “My shorthand is, we used to be the party of the factory floor, and now we’re the party of the faculty lounge. That’s not a California problem. It’s an elitist problem.”

    While Podesta isn’t backing anyone yet in the 2028 presidential contest, he praised Newsom for his efforts to not only buck Trump but the “leftist extremists” in the Democratic party.

    The narrative of Californians being out of touch with many Americans has been exacerbated this year during the state’s battles with the Trump administration over immigration, climate change, water and artificial intelligence policy. But Newsom and committee members argued that the state has been at the vanguard of where the nation will eventually head.

    “I am very proud of California. It’s a state that’s not just about growth, it’s about inclusion,” the governor said, before ticking off a list of California initiatives, including low-priced insulin and higher minimum wages. “So much of the policy that’s coming out of the state of California promotes not just promise, but policy direction that I think is really important for the party.”

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    Seema Mehta, Dakota Smith

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  • Commentary: Is Newsom blazing a path to the White House? Running a fool’s errand? Let’s discuss

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    Gavin Newsom is off and running, eyeing the White House as he enters the far turn and his final year as California governor.

    The track record for California Democrats and the presidency is not a good one. In the nearly 250 years of these United States, not one Left Coast Democrat has ever been elected president. Kamala Harris is just the latest to fail. (Twice.)

    Can Newsom break that losing streak and make history in 2028?

    Faithful readers of this column — both of you — certainly know how I feel.

    Garry South disagrees.

    The veteran Democratic campaign strategist, who has been described as possessing “a pile-driving personality and blast furnace of a mouth” — by me, actually — has never lacked for strong and colorful opinions. Here, in an email exchange, we hash out our differences.

    Barabak: You once worked for Newsom, did you not?

    South: Indeed I did. I was a senior strategist in his first campaign for governor. It lasted 15 months in 2008 and 2009. He exited the race when we couldn’t figure out how to beat Jerry Brown in a closed Democratic primary.

    I happen to be the one who wrote the catchy punch line for Newsom’s speech to the state Democratic convention in 2009, that the race was a choice between “a stroll down memory lane vs. a sprint into the future.”

    We ended up on memory lane.

    Barabak: Do you still advise Newsom, or members of his political team?

    South: No, though he and I are in regular contact and have been since his days as lieutenant governor. I know many of his staff and consultants, but don’t work with them in any paid capacity. Also, the governor’s sister and I are friends.

    Barabak: You observed Newsom up close in that 2010 race. What are his strengths as a campaigner?

    South: Newsom is a masterful communicator, has great stage presence, cuts a commanding figure and can hold an audience in the palm of his hand when he’s really on. He has a mind like a steel trap and never forgets anything he is told or reads.

    I’ve always attributed his amazing recall to the struggle he has reading, due to his lifelong struggle with severe dyslexia. Because it’s such an arduous effort for Newsom to read, what he does read is emblazoned on his mind in seeming perpetuity.

    Barabak: Demerits, or weaknesses?

    South: Given his remarkable command of facts and data and mastery of the English language, he can sometimes run on too long. During that first gubernatorial campaign, when he was still mayor of San Francisco, he once gave a seven-hour State of the City address.

    Barabak: Fidel Castro must have been impressed!

    South: It wasn’t as bad as sounds: It was broken into 10 “Webisodes” on his YouTube channel. But still …

    Barabak: So let’s get to it. I think Newsom’s chances of being elected president are somewhere between slim and none — and slim was last seen alongside I-5, in San Ysidro, thumbing a ride to Mexico.

    You don’t agree.

    South: I don’t agree at all. I think you’re underestimating the Trumpian changes wrought (rot?) upon our political system over the past 10 years.

    The election of Trump, a convicted felon, not once but twice, has really blown to hell the conventional paradigms we’ve had for decades in terms of how we assess the viability of presidential candidates — what state they’re from, their age, if they have glitches in their personal or professional life.

    Not to mention, oh, their criminal record, if they have one.

    The American people actually elected for a second term a guy who fomented a rebellion against his own country when he was president the first time, including an armed assault on our own national capitol in which a woman was killed and for which he was rightly impeached. It’s foolish not to conclude that the old rules, the old conventional wisdom about what voters will accept and what they will not, are out the window for good.

    It also doesn’t surprise me that you pooh-pooh Newsom’s prospects. It’s typical of the home-state reporting corps to guffaw when their own governor is touted as a presidential candidate.

    One, familiarity breeds contempt. Two, a prophet is without honor in his own country.

    Barabak: I’ll grant you a couple of points.

    I’m old enough to remember when friends in the Arkansas political press corps scoffed at the notion their governor, the phenomenally gifted but wildly undisciplined Bill Clinton, could ever be elected president.

    I also remember those old Clairol hair-color ads: “The closer he gets … the better you look!” (Google it, kids). It’s precisely the opposite when it comes to presidential hopefuls and the reporters who cover them day-in, day-out.

    And you’re certainly correct, the nature of what constitutes scandal, or disqualifies a presidential candidate, has drastically changed in the Trump era.

    All of that said, certain fundamentals remain the same. Harking back to that 1992 Clinton campaign, it’s still the economy, stupid. Or, put another way, it’s about folks’ lived experience, their economic security, or lack thereof, and personal well-being.

    Newsom is, for the moment, a favorite among the chattering political class and online activists because a) those are the folks who are already engaged in the 2028 race and b) many of them thrill to his Trumpian takedowns of the president on social media.

    When the focus turns to matters affecting voters’ ability to pay for housing, healthcare, groceries, utility bills and to just get by, Newsom’s opponents will have a heyday trashing him and California’s steep prices, homelessness and shrinking middle class.

    Kamala Harris twice bid unsuccessfully for the White House. Her losses kept alive an unbroken string of losses by Left Coast Democrats.

    (Kent Nishimura / Getty Images)

    South: It’s not just the chattering class.

    Newsom’s now the leading candidate among rank-and-file Democrats. They had been pleading — begging — for years that some Democratic leader step out of the box, step up to the plate, and fight back, giving Trump a dose of his own medicine. Newsom has been meeting that demand with wit, skill and doggedness — not just on social media, but through passage of Proposition 50, the Democratic gerrymandering measure.

    And Democrats recognize and appreciate it

    Barabak: Hmmm. Perhaps I’m somewhat lacking in imagination, but I just can’t picture a world where Democrats say, “Hey, the solution to our soul-crushing defeat in 2024 is to nominate another well-coiffed, left-leaning product of that bastion of homespun Americana, San Francisco.”

    South: Uh, Americans twice now have elected a president not just from New York City, but who lived in an ivory tower in Manhattan, in a penthouse with a 24-carat-gold front door (and, allegedly, gold-plated toilet seats). You think Manhattan is a soupçon more representative of middle America than San Francisco?

    Like I said, state of origin is less important now after the Trump precedent.

    Barabak: Trump was a larger-than-life — or at least larger-than-Manhattan — celebrity. Geography wasn’t an impediment because he had — and has — a remarkable ability, far beyond my reckoning, to present himself as a tribune of the working class, the downtrodden and economically struggling Americans, even as he spreads gold leaf around himself like a kid with a can of Silly String.

    Speaking of Kamala Harris, she hasn’t ruled out a third try at the White House in 2028. Where would you place your money in a Newsom-Harris throwdown for the Democratic nomination? How about Harris in the general election, against whomever Republicans choose?

    South: Harris running again in 2028 would be like Michael Dukakis making a second try for president in 1992. My God, she not only lost every swing state, and the electoral college by nearly 100 votes, Harris also lost the popular vote — the first Democrat to do so in 20 years.

    If she doesn’t want to embarrass herself, she should listen to her home-state voters, who in the latest CBS News/YouGov poll said she shouldn’t run again — by a margin of 69-31. (Even 52% of Democrats said no). She’s yesterday’s news.

    Barabak: Seems as though you feel one walk down memory lane was quite enough. We’ll see if Harris — and, more pertinently, Democratic primary voters — agree.

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    Mark Z. Barabak

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  • Pro-housing group sues Newsom over duplex ban in wildfire zones

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    A pro-housing group sued Gov. Newsom on Wednesday over his decision to restrict SB 9, a housing law that allows owners to parcel up their properties, in the wake of the January fires.

    YIMBY Law, a San Francisco-based organization, alleges that Newsom’s executive order over the summer allowing cities to suspend SB 9 is a constitutional overreach and violates the California Emergency Services Act, which states that emergency powers can only be used to mitigate ongoing disasters, not potential ones.

    It’s the latest chapter in the fight over how much density should be allowed in the rebuilding of fire-stricken communities such as Altadena and Pacific Palisades.

    Proponents of SB 9, a 2021 state law that allows homeowners to split single-family lots into as many as four properties, claim it’s a valuable tool to address the housing crisis by adding density. They also claim it’s a resource for fire victims hoping to sell their properties, since land that can be subdivided is more valuable than a single-family lot.

    Critics claim that the density afforded by SB 9 would destroy the character of single-family neighborhoods, while also slowing down evacuations in fire-prone areas by packing in more homes and residents.

    Newsom sided with the critics in July, signing an executive order allowing L.A.-area governments to suspend SB 9. Many took him up on the offer immediately, including Mayor Bass, as well as officials in Pasadena, Malibu and L.A. County. All are named in the lawsuit along with Gov. Newsom.

    “SB 9 adds housing and flexibility,” said YIMBY Law executive director Sonja Trauss. “We want everyone to be able to rebuild, but suspending SB 9 devalues those properties.”

    Trauss said many fire victims are underinsured and currently deciding whether it’s financially possible to rebuild. For many, a helpful option would be to use SB 9 to divide the lot into two, then sell one and use the money to build on the other.

    She added that the move seemed out of step with Gov. Newsom’s other initiatives in the wake of the fires, including streamlining the permitting process for single-family homes and ADUs.

    “If you want to build a 3,000-square-foot house and a 700-square-foot ADU, it’s easier. But if you want to build two homes as a duplex, it’s harder,” Trauss said. “It’s baffling.”

    A spokesperson for Newsom defended the move in a statement.

    “We will not allow outside groups — even longstanding allies — to attack the Palisades, and communities in the highest fire risk areas throughout L.A. County, or undermine local flexibility after the horror of these fires,” said spokesperson Tara Gallegos. “Our obligation is to survivors, full stop. We will not negotiate that away. If defending them requires drawing firm lines, we will draw them.”

    The suit was originally supposed to be filed on Monday, Dec. 8, but was delayed after potential movement from Newsom’s office to restore SB 9 in fire areas, a spokesperson for YIMBY Law said.

    An agreement was never reached, and the suit was filed on Wednesday.

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    Jack Flemming

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  • At Brazilian climate summit, Newsom positions California as a stand-in for the U.S.

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    BELÉM, Brazil — The expansive halls of the Amazon’s newly built climate summit hub echoed with the hum of air conditioners and the footsteps of delegates from around the world — scientists, diplomats, Indigenous leaders and energy executives, all converging for two frenetic weeks of negotiations.

    Then Gov. Gavin Newsom rounded the corner, flanked by staff and security. They moved in tandem through the corridors on Tuesday as media swarmed and cellphone cameras rose into the air.

    “Hero!” one woman shouted. “Stay safe — we need you,” another attendee said. Others didn’t hide their confusion at who the man with slicked-back graying hair causing such a commotion was.

    “I’m here because I don’t want the United States of America to be a footnote at this conference,” Newsom said when he reached a packed news conference on his first day at the United Nations climate policy summit known as COP30.

    In less than a year, the United States has shifted from rallying nations on combating climate change to rejecting the science altogether under President Trump.

    Newsom has engineered his own evolution when coping with Trump — moving from sharp but reasoned criticism to name-calling and theatrical attacks on the president and his Republican allies. Newsom’s approach adds fire to America’s political spectacle — part governance, part made-for-TV drama.

    On Wednesday, Newsom’s trip collided with unwelcome headlines at home after his former chief of staff was arrested on federal charges alleging she siphoned $225,000 from a dormant campaign account and claimed business tax write-offs for $1 million in luxury handbags and private jet travel. Newsom had left COP30 before the indictment was revealed, which kept the focus during his whirlwind trip to Belém on his climate policies.

    California’s carbon market and zero-emission mandates have given the state outsize influence at summits such as COP30, where its policies are seen as both durable and exportable. The state has invested billions in renewables, battery storage and electrifying buildings and vehicles and has cut greenhouse gas emissions by 21% since 2000 — even as its economy grew 81%.

    “Absolutely,” he said when asked whether the state is in effect standing in for the United States at climate talks. “And I think the world sees us in that light, as a stable partner, a historic partner … in the absence of American leadership. And not just absence of leadership, the doubling down of stupid in terms of global leadership on clean energy.”

    Newsom has honed a combative presence online — trading barbs with Trump and leaning into satire, especially on social media, tactics that mirror the president’s. Critics have argued that it’s contributing to a lowering of the bar when it comes to political discourse, but Newsom said he doesn’t see it that way.

    “I’m trying to call that out,” Newsom said, adding that in a normal political climate, leaders should model civility and respect. “But right now, we have an invasive species — in the vernacular of climate — by the name of Donald Trump, and we got to call that out.”

    At home, Newsom recently scored a political win with Proposition 50, the ballot measure he championed to counter Trump’s effort to redraw congressional maps in Republican-led states. On his way to Brazil, he celebrated the victory with a swing through Houston, where a rally featuring Texas Democrats looked more like a presidential campaign stop than a policy event — one of several moments in recent months that have invited speculation about a White House run that he insists he hasn’t launched.

    Those questions followed him to Brazil. It was the first topic posed from a cluster of Brazilian journalists in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city and financial hub, where Newsom had flown to speak Monday with climate investors in what he conceded sounded more like a campaign speech.

    “I think it has to,” said Newsom, his talking points scribbled on yellow index cards still in his pocket from an earlier meeting. “I think people have to understand what’s going on, because otherwise you’re wasting everyone’s time.”

    In a low-lit luxury hotel adorned with Brazilian artwork and deep-seated chairs, Newsom showcased the well-practiced pivot of a politician avoiding questions about his future. His most direct answer about his presidential prospects came in a recent interview with “CBS News Sunday Morning” in which he was asked whether he would give serious thought after the 2026 midterm elections to a White House bid. Newsom responded: “Yeah, I’d be lying otherwise.”

    He laughed when asked by The Times how often he has fielded questions about his 2028 plans in recent days, and quickly deflected.

    “It’s not about me,” he said before fishing a malaria pill out of his suit pocket and chasing it with coffee from a nearby carafe. “It’s about this moment — and people’s anxiety and concern about this moment.”

    Ann Carlson, a UCLA environmental law professor, said Newsom’s appearance in Brazil is symbolically important as the federal government targets California’s decades-old authority to enforce its own environmental standards.

    “California has continued to signal that it will play a leadership role,” she said.

    The Trump administration confirmed to The Times that no high-level federal representative will attend COP30.

    “President Trump will not jeopardize our country’s economic and national security to pursue vague climate goals that are killing other countries,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said.

    For his part, Trump told world leaders at the United Nations in September that climate change is a “hoax” and “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.”

    Since Trump returned to office for a second term, he’s canceled funding for major clean energy projects such as California’s hydrogen hub and moved to revoke the state’s long-held authority to set stricter vehicle emissions standards than those of the federal government. He’s also withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement, a seminal treaty signed a decade ago in which world leaders established the goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels and preferably below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). That move is seen as pivotal in preventing the worst effects of climate change.

    Leaders from Chile and Colombia called Trump a liar for rejecting climate science, while Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva broadly warned that extremist forces are fabricating fake news and “condemning future generations to life on a planet altered forever by global warming.”

    Terry Tamminen, former California Environmental Protection Agency secretary under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, contended that with the Trump administration’s absence, Newsom’s attendance at COP30 thrusts an even brighter spotlight on the governor.

    “If the governor of Delaware goes, it may not matter,” Tamminen said. “But if our governor goes, it does. It sends a message to the world that we’re still in this.”

    The U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of state leaders, said three governors from the United States are attending COP30-related events in Brazil: Newsom, Wisconsin’s Tony Evers and New Mexico’s Michelle Lujan Grisham.

    Despite the warm reception Newsom has received in Belém, environmentalists in California have recently questioned his commitment.

    In September, Newsom signed a package of bills that extended the state’s signature cap-and-trade program through 2045. That program, rebranded as cap-and-invest, limits greenhouse gas emissions and raises billions of dollars for the state’s climate priorities. But, at the same time, he also gave final approval to a bill that will allow oil and gas companies to drill as many as 2,000 new wells per year through 2036 in Kern County. Environmentalists called that backsliding; Newsom called it realism, given the impending refinery closures in the state that threaten to drive up gas prices.

    “It’s not an ideological exercise,” he said. “It’s a very pragmatic one.”

    Leah Stokes, a UC Santa Barbara political scientist, called his record “pretty complex.”

    “In many ways, he is one of the leaders,” she said. “But some of the decisions that he’s made, especially recently, don’t move us in as good a direction on climate.”

    Newsom is expected to return to the climate summit Wednesday before traveling deeper into the Amazon, where he plans to visit reforestation projects. The governor said he wanted to see firsthand the region often referred to as “the lungs of the world.”

    “It’s not just to admire the absorption of carbon from the rainforest,” Newsom said. “But to absorb a deeper spiritual connection to this issue that connects all of us. … I think that really matters in a world that can use a little more of that.”

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    Melody Gutierrez

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  • Newsom appears onstage at Texas rally to celebrate Prop. 50 victory, take swipes at Trump

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    Gov. Gavin Newsom strode onstage in Houston on Saturday to a cheering crowd of Texas Democrats, saying Proposition 50’s victory in California on election day was a win for the nation and a firm repudiation of President Trump.

    Newsom possessed the air of a politician running for president at the boisterous rally, a possibility the California governor says he is considering — and the location he chose was not happenstance.

    Newsom accused Trump of pressuring Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to rejigger the state’s congressional districts with the goal of sending more Republicans to Congress, an action that triggered California’s Proposition 50. Newsom successfully pushed for a special election on the ballot measure to counter the efforts in Texas, which the governor said wasan attempt by Trump and the Republicans to “rig” the 2026 midterm election.

    Cheers erupted from the friendly, union-hall crowd when Newsom belittled Trump as an “invasive species” and a “historically unpopular president.”

    “On every issue, on the economy, on terrorists, on immigration, on healthcare, [he’s a] historically unpopular president, and he knows it, and he knows it,” Newsom said. “Why else did he make that call to your governor? Why else did he feel the need to rig the election before even one vote was cast? That’s just weakness, weakness masquerading as strength. That’s Donald Trump, and he had a very bad night on Tuesday.”

    Newsom was the main political force behind Proposition 50, which California voters overwhelmingly approved in Tuesday’s special election. The statewide ballot measure was an attempt to counter Trump’s push to get Republican-led states, most notably Texas, to redraw their electoral maps to keep Democrats from gaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2026 midterms and upending his agenda. Newsom and California Democrats hope the change will net an additional five Democrats in California’s congressional delegation, canceling out any gains in Texas.

    Newsom thanked Texas Democrats for putting up a fight against the redistricting effort in their state, saying it inspired an uprising.

    “It’s dawning on people, all across the United States of America, what’s at stake,” Newsom told the crowd. “And you put a stake in the ground. People are showing up. I don’t believe in crowns, thrones. No kings.”

    Newsom’s trip to Texas comes as the former San Francisco mayor has been openly flirting with a 2028 run for president. In a recent interview with “CBS News Sunday Morning,” Newsom was asked whether he would give “serious thought” after the 2026 midterms to a White House bid.

    “Yeah, I’d be lying otherwise,” Newsom replied. “I’d just be lying. And I’m not — I can’t do that.”

    In July, Newsom flew to South Carolina, a state that traditionally hosts the South’s first presidential primary. He said he wanted to help his party win back the U.S. House of Representatives in 2026. But South Carolina is a solidly conservative state and did not appear to have a single competitive race.

    During that trip, South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the highest-ranking Black member of Congress and renowned Democratic kingmaker, told The Times that Newsom would be “a hell of a candidate.” Newsom received similar praise — and encouragement — when he was introduced at the “Take It Back” rally in Houston.

    Newsom now heads to Belém, Brazil, where representatives from 200 nations are gathering to kick off the annual United Nations climate policy summit. For Newsom, it’s a golden opportunity to appear on a world stage and sell himself and California as the antidote to Trump and his attacks on climate change policy.

    The Trump administration this year canceled funding for major clean energy projects such as California’s hydrogen hub and moved to revoke the state’s long-held authority to set stricter vehicle emissions standards than the federal government.

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    Phil Willon

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  • California steps in as Trump skips global climate summit in Brazil

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    Nearly 200 nations are gathering this week in Belém, Brazil, to kick off the annual United Nations climate policy summit, but there is one glaring exception: The Trump administration is not sending any high-ranking officials.

    California hopes it can fill in the gap. The state, as it usually does, is sending a large delegation to the Conference of the Parties, including first-time attendee Gov. Gavin Newsom and top officials from the California Natural Resources Agency, Department of Food and Agriculture, Air Resources Board, Public Utilities Commission and Governor’s Office of Tribal Affairs.

    The state aims to build on its reputation as a global climate leader, sharing its experience with clean energy technology and job creation and showcasing its track record of climate agreements with other countries and regions.

    Newsom, who is positioning himself for a 2028 presidential run, told The Times he “absolutely” sees California as a proxy for the U.S. at this year’s conference, which is the main global venue for countries to strengthen their commitments to reducing greenhouse gases.

    “California has a responsibility, but also a unique opportunity at this moment, to remind the world that we’re here, that we believe these issues matter, and that there’s an opportunity here to reinforce existing alliances and develop new ones,” the governor said.

    California’s strong presence at COP also marks an escalation of Newsom’s ongoing battle with President Trump. The two have clashed over immigration and climate, with the president’s energy and environment agenda often targeting the state. The Trump administration this year canceled funding for major clean energy projects such as California’s hydrogen hub and moved to revoke the state’s long-held authority to set stricter vehicle emissions standards than the federal government.

    But this year’s Nov. 10-21 gathering also comes at a critical moment for the world. It’s the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, a seminal treaty signed at the 2015 COP in which world leaders established the goal of limiting global warming to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above preindustrial levels, and preferably below 2.7 degrees F (1.5 degrees C), in order to prevent the worst effects of climate change.

    Most experts and scientists agree that the 2.7 degree target is no longer within reach. The last 10 years have been Earth’s hottest on record, driven largely by greenhouse gas emissions that come from the burning of fossil fuels.

    “One thing is already clear: We will not be able to contain the global warming below 1.5 degrees [C] in the next few years,” U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said at a recent gathering of the World Meteorological Organization. “The overshooting is now inevitable.”

    The U.N.’s annual Emissions Gap report released in conjunction with the conference finds that without immediate and aggressive action, the world is on track to warm between 4.14 and 5.04 degrees (2.3 and 2.8 degrees Celsius) over this century.

    Yet Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on his first day back in office, a move he also made during his first term as president. In a January executive order he stated that the Paris Agreement and other international climate compacts pose an unfair burden on the U.S. and steer American dollars to other countries.

    The U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement is expected to add an additional 0.18 degree to the latest warming projections, in effect nullifying a small gain made since last year, the U.N. report says. It notes that every fraction of a degree of warming means more losses for people and ecosystems, higher costs to adapt, and more reliance on uncertain techniques to remove carbon from the atmosphere.

    However, the report underscores that the technology to deliver big emissions cuts already exists, pointing to booming developments in wind and solar energy, much of which is occurring overseas.

    It’s a sector where California can lead, Newsom said, adding that the Trump administration has “doubled down on stupid” by ceding so much ground to China. The Golden State has invested heavily in renewables, battery energy storage and the electrification of buildings and vehicles. California has also set ambitious decarbonizaiton targets and reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 21% since 2000 while its economy has grown 81%.

    “We want to continue to tip the scales, and this is about economic growth, this is about jobs, and this is about addressing the other crisis of our time: affordability,” Newsom said. “When you talk about energy efficiency, you’re talking about affordability. When you talk about wind and solar, you’re talking about abundance and you’re talking about affordability.”

    California has already helped to spread a lot of real technology. The state’s aggressive emission rules were pivotal in pushing automakers toward electric vehicles, with Toyota largely developing its Prius for California’s market. The state was the first to mandate battery energy storage at its major utilities, helping jump-start the modern grid-battery market, while its cap-and-trade carbon market program has been emulated in places around the world.

    State leaders hope to highlight more than their progress at home. In recent years, California has also forged subnational agreements and partnerships with other regions and countries on issues such as delivering clean transportation, cutting pollution and developing hydrogen and renewables. Newsom is expected to sign additional agreements at COP this year, although his team declined to provide a preview of what they will entail.

    Among the state’s dozens of existing agreements are a memorandum with Mexico’s Baja California Energy Commission focused on clean ports, zero-emission transportation and grid reliability; and memorandums with several provinces in China on pollution reduction and offshore wind power. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection also has partnerships with several countries that are sharing resources and best practices for managing vegetation and combating wildfires.

    Focusing on these actions at the state and regional level has become a key part of COP conferences as the conversation gains urgency and shifts to deployment, according to Rachel Cleetus, senior policy director at the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists.

    “There is a whole other face of the United States — we have a lot of subnational actors, including leading states and cities and forward-looking businesses, who will be at COP showing the rest of the world that the United States does understand that it’s both in the interest of our country, as well as the global interest, to tackle climate change,” Cleetus said.

    California’s delegation in Brazil also includes Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot, who represented the state at the Local Leaders Forum in Rio de Janeiro this week.

    “This year, our federal government is totally missing in action … and the rest of the world needs to understand that America is still in this fight, and we’re moving forward,” Crowfoot said in a briefing.

    Crowfoot highlighted California’s carbon market partnership with Quebec and one with Denmark that yielded groundwater monitoring technology that California uses today, among other examples of international efforts.

    This year’s COP conference, which is taking place near the Amazon River delta in northern Brazil, is heavily focused on forest restoration and nature-based solutions, which California also focuses on through its 30×30 program to conserve 30% of the state’s lands and coastal waters by 2030, Crowfoot said. The Golden State already has deep ties to the region stemming from its landmark 2019 Tropical Forest Standard program, which set guidelines on carbon credits awarded for reducing deforestation.

    Newsom said that at COP, he will highlight climate action as the defining economic opportunity of the 21st century. He is slated to speak at the Milken Institute’s Global Investors’ Symposium, a gathering of leading investors and business executives, about how California shows that clean energy investments create jobs and profit. Green jobs now outnumber fossil fuel jobs in the state, 7 to 1.

    “Were not just talking about this from the perspective of trying to be good citizens,” Newsom said. “We’re also trying to be competitive geopolitical players. We want to dominate in the next big global industry.”

    Still, there is much work to be done.

    Every five years, parties to the Paris Agreement are required to submit targets for their greenhouse gas emissions. The targets so far have “barely moved the needle,” according to the U.N. report, and the ones handed in this year aren’t nearly aggressive enough.

    “It’s devastating to see that now we are definitely going to breach the 1.5 C benchmark,” said Cleetus, of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

    “But world leaders still have the power to sharply cut these emissions,” she said.

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    Hayley Smith, Melody Gutierrez

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  • Trump said California election was rigged. That’s wrong

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    As Californians voted Nov. 4 for a new congressional map, President Donald Trump falsely said the process was rigged.

    “The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED,” Trump wrote Nov. 4 on Truth Social. 

    “All ‘Mail-In’ Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are ‘Shut Out,’ is under very serious legal and criminal review. STAY TUNED!”  

    A reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt for Trump’s evidence that the election was rigged. 

    “It is just a fact,” Leavitt said. “They have a universal mail in voting system, which we know is ripe for fraud. …Fraudulent ballots that are being mailed in, in the names of other people and the names of illegal aliens who shouldn’t be voting in American elections.”

    Democratic California state officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom and Secretary of State Shirley Weber, challenged Trump’s assertion. “Where exactly is this fraud? Ramblings don’t equate with fact,” Weber said.  

    When PolitiFact contacted the White House, a spokesperson responded with several points, many of which had also been shared in an X post. These points criticized California’s voting system, but included only one case of a person charged with voter fraud. The White House also misrepresented the numbers on voter registration and voter removal to support its claims. 

    Trump has repeatedly spread falsehoods about “rigged” elections, including in California. Rigging a state election would require election officials across the state to work together to commit felonies. There is no evidence that happened.

    What did happen: The blue state overwhelmingly voted to redistrict the congressional map to increase the chance of adding five Democratic seats to negate added likely Republican seats in Texas.

    White House evidence does not prove the election was rigged

    Vote by mail system: Much of the White House’s evidence criticizes California’s system of mailing ballots to all active registered voters. It is one of eight states that conduct elections by such a system. Millions of ballots are sent to Californians and not returned, as the White House noted, but that doesn’t prove fraud. Election workers verify identity by matching signatures on the mail ballot envelopes with the registration records.

    Although voters are mailed ballots, they can choose to cast a ballot in person instead. Voters generally don’t have to provide an ID. Election workers can ask for an ID if the person is voting for the first time and didn’t provide an ID when registering to vote. 

    The White House cherry picked one sentence from a 2005 bipartisan report that said, “Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud.” Although the report generally communicated a dim view of absentee voting, it didn’t call for its elimination. It recommended ways to improve security and further study. 

    Noncitizen voters: The White House said, “San Francisco allows non-citizens to vote in local elections which creates a high risk of fraud in federal elections,” and acknowledged noncitizens aren’t allowed to vote in federal elections. The city allows noncitizens to vote only in school board elections.

    The Justice Department sued Orange County in June after it redacted personal identifying information when it provided records to the department about 17 noncitizens on the voter rolls. 

    Bob Page, the county registrar of voters, said the 17 people self-reported that they wanted to cancel their voter registrations, including eight who voted before they cancelled their voter registration.

    Duplicate registrations: “California reported 2,178,551 duplicate registrations in the 2024 election cycle — 15.6% of total registered voters,” the White House said. 

    The statement misleadingly gives the impression that those people appear on the voter rolls more than once. “Duplicate registrations” refer to the number of registration applications that California election officials received but didn’t process because they were identical to existing registrations. Duplicate registration can happen by accident; some people register and forget they did so, or submit registration both through the mail and online.

    The number the White House cited represents the number of times California election officials caught the mistake, not made one. 

    The number comes from a 2024 national survey on voting activity and election administration between 2022 and 2024 by the bipartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

    The national average for duplicate applications is 12.7%.

    Removing voters after death: The White House said, “California only removed 378,349 registered voters for death (11.9%), which was well below the national average,” between the 2022 and 2024 elections. 

    This figure is cherry picked. The White House cited voters removed because of death, which is just one reason for striking a voter from the rolls. 

    From 2022 to 2024, California removed more than 3.177 million voters from its rolls for all reasons, including death, according to the same election survey. That’s a 12.4% removal rate of all registered voters, compared with the national average of 9.1%. 

    California removed a larger proportion of voters for reasons other than death, such as moving or failure to return a confirmation notice.

    Voter fraud: The White House pointed to one woman charged with voter fraud.

    In September, authorities charged a woman from Costa Mesa, California, with five felonies for illegally registering her dog to vote. The dog’s vote was counted in the 2021 gubernatorial recall election, but rejected in the 2022 primary. The Orange County District Attorney’s office said the woman “self-reported that she had registered her dog to vote.” 

    Laura Lee Yourex, 62, said she wanted to prove a point about flaws in the state voting system, according to her lawyer. 

    The conservative Heritage Foundation’s voter fraud database shows 69 cases in California between 1982 and 2025. The database shows dozens of cases in red states such as Florida, which does not send a mail ballot to all voters. 

    Our ruling

    Trump said voting in California is “rigged.”

    The White House’s explanation misrepresented data about duplicate registrations, cherry-picked data about dead voter removals from registration rolls, pointed to one woman charged with voter fraud among about 23 million registered voters, and baselessly blamed San Francisco’s allowance for noncitizen voting in school board elections.

    The White House did not prove California voting is “rigged.” We rate Trump’s statement Pants on Fire!

    PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this fact-check.

    RELATED: Trump’s actions could affect the 2026 midterm elections. What will it mean for voters?

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  • 4 takeaways after Proposition 50’s big win in California

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    Proposition 50’s big win Tuesday night is a political earthquake that is being felt nationally.

    Here are four takeaways:

    1. Trump toxicity in California.

    Prop. 50 supporters tried to make the ballot measure a referendum on President Trump — and it clearly worked.

    California has been a blue state for decades, but Trump’s second term has been particularly trying for critics.

    Huntington Beach resident Miko Vaughn, 48, supported Proposition 50 and saw the battle as a proxy war between President Trump and Newsom. It’s just “against Trump,” she said. “I feel like there’s not much we can do individually, so it does feel good to do something.”

    Indeed, a CNN exit poll of California voters found that about half said their vote on Prop. 50 was a way of opposing Trump.

    “Trump is such a polarizing figure,” said Rick Hasen, a professor of law and political science at UCLA. “He commands great loyalty from one group of people and great animosity from others.”

    2. End of an era

    Proposition 50, a ballot measure about redrawing the state’s congressional districts, was crafted by Democrats in response to Trump urging Texas and other GOP-majority states to modify their congressional maps to favor Republicans, a move that was designed to maintain Republican control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

    California has been somewhat of an outlier. Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger created—and voters approved in 2010—an independent redistricting commission aimed at keeping politics out of the process of drawing congressional districts.

    The panel of 14 citizens works to create districts for state lawmakers and for members of Congress that are contiguous and roughly equal in population. The districts must also follow the federal Voting Rights Act and group together “communities of interest,” a wide-reaching term of art for people who share languages, cultures, backgrounds, interests, ways of life or other traits.

    Matt Lesenyie, an assistant professor of political science at Cal State Long Beach, said the vote over Proposition 50 marks the end of an era for this process—and perhaps for the hope for fair politics.

    Many political scientists have long opposed political gerrymandering, applauding states like California for moving to an independent model where politicians aren’t determining boundaries. But not enough states joined California in that effort, Lesenyie said.

    “California probably should have done this—against my better judgment—a long time ago in acknowledging that our politics have become so extremely polarized and that we can’t in California hold that dam break back by ourselves,” he said.

    3. Big win for Newsom

    Newsom has emerged as a foil to Trump this year, challenging him on a variety of issues from environment to immigration and mocking him on X.

    Prop. 50 was a risk for Newsom, but it immediately became a rallying cry for Democrats looking for a way to fight back. Now, he can take his victory lap.

    “After poking the bear, this bear roared,” Newsom said Tuesday night.

    Newsom said he was proud of California for standing up to Trump and called on other states with Democrat-controlled legislatures to pass their own redistricting plans.

    “I hope it’s dawning on people, the sobriety of this moment,” he said.

    Newsom recently announced he is considering a run for president in 2028.

    4. More polarization

    The biggest loser from Tuesday night? California Republicans.

    California has 43 Democrats and nine Republicans in the House. Proposition 50 would shift five more House districts into competitive or easily winnable territory for Democrats.

    The new map would eliminate the Inland Empire district of Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona), the longest-serving member of California’s Republican delegation, and create a new seat in Los Angeles County that would skew heavily toward Democrats.

    The map would also dilute the number of GOP voters in the districts represented by Reps. Doug LaMalfa in Northern California, Kevin Kiley in Greater Sacramento, David Valadao in the San Joaquin Valley and Darrell Issa near San Diego.

    The maps would apply to the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections. After the 2030 U.S. Census, California would return to having its lines drawn by the independent redistricting panel.

    Prop. 50 opponents cried foul, saying they were disenfranchised. Trump has mused about cutting some funding to California. And a lot of GOP voters are angry.

    California Republicans on Wednesday filed a lawsuit arguing the redistricting maps are unconstitutional because they use voters race as a factor in drawing districts.

    Race engine builder and Republican Robert Jung, 69, said “the changes are politically motivated.”

    “It doesn’t seem right to do this just to gain five seats. I know they did it in Texas, but we don’t have to do it just because they did it,” the Torrance resident said.

    Disabled Army veteran Micah Corpe, 50, added Prop. 50 is the result of Newsom believing he can “do whatever he wants because he doesn’t like Trump.”

    Times staff writers Seema Mehta and Laura J. Nelson contributed to this report.

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    Hannah Fry, Alex Wigglesworth, Connor Sheets, Jessica Garrison

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  • Gov. Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris rally Californians to vote on Prop. 50

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    Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris and a slew of other national and California Democrats on Saturday rallied supporters to stay fired up in seeking passage of a ballot measure to redraw the state’s congressional districts ahead of the midterm elections.

    While polling suggests Proposition 50 is likely to pass Tuesday, volunteers must continue knocking on doors, phone banking and motivating voters through Election Day, they said. Newsom told volunteers they ought to follow the model of sprinters, leaving it all on the field.

    “We cannot afford to run the 90-yard dash. You Angelenos, you’ve got the Olympics coming in 2028. They do not run the 90-yard dash. They run the 110-yard dash. We have got to be at peak on Election Day,” Newsom told hundreds of supporters at the Convention Center in downtown Los Angeles. “We cannot take anything for granted.”

    Hours earlier, Republicans spoke out against the ballot measure at John Wayne Park in Newport Beach, before sending teams into neighborhoods to drum up votes for their side.

    “What Proposition 50 will do is disenfranchise, meaning, disregard all Republicans in the state of California,” state Assembly member Diane Dixon (R-Newport Beach) said. “Ninety percent of 6 million [Californian Republicans] will be disenfranchised.”

    Prop. 50 would redraw California’s congressional districts in an attempt to boost the number of Democrats in Congress. The effort was proposed by Newsom and other California Democrats in hope of blunting President Trump’s push in Texas and other GOP-led states to increase the number of Republicans elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in next year’s midterm elections. But even if voters approve the ballot measure that could flip five California districts currently represented by Republicans, it’s unclear whether that will be enough to shift control of the House unless there is a blue wave in the 2026 elections.

    The party that wins control of the House will shape Trump’s final two years in the White House and determine whether he is able to continue enacting his agenda or whether he faces a spate of investigations and possibly another impeachment attempt.

    The special election is among the costliest ballot measures in state history. More than $192 million has flowed into various campaign committees since state lawmakers voted in August to put the proposition on the ballot. Supporters of the redistricting effort raised exponentially more money than opponents, and polling shows the proposition is likely to pass.

    As of Friday, more than a quarter of the state’s 23 million registered voters had cast ballots, with Democrats outpacing Republicans.

    Newsom was joined Saturday by Harris, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla of California and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, other Democrats and labor leaders.

    Harris, in a surprise appearance at the gathering, argued that the Trump administration is implementing long-sought GOP goals such as voter suppression.

    “This fight is not about sitting by and complaining, ‘Oh, they’re cheating,’” the former vice president said. “It’s about recognizing what they are up to. There is an agenda that we are witnessing which feels chaotic, I know, but in fact, we are witnessing a high-velocity event that is about the swift implementation of a plan that has been decades in the making.”

    Several speakers referred to the immigration raids that started in Los Angeles in June and deep cuts to federal safety nets, including the nutrition assistance program for low-income families and healthcare coverage for seniors and the disabled.

    “We know there’s so much on the line this Tuesday. And a reminder, Tuesday is not Election Day — it’s the last day to vote,” Padilla said. “Don’t wait till Tuesday. Get your ballots in, folks…. As good as the polls look, we need to run up the score on this because the eyes of the country are going to be on California on Tuesday. And we need to win and we need to win big.”

    Padilla, a typically staid legislator, then offered a modified riff of a lyric by rapper Ice Cube, who grew up in South Los Angeles.

    “Donald Trump — you better check yourself before you wreck America,” said Padilla, who is considering running for governor next year.

    Nearly 50 miles southeast, about 50 Republican canvassers fueled up on coffee and doughnuts, united over the brisk weather and annoyance about Newsom’s attempt to redraw California’s congressional districts.

    Will O’Neill, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, equated this final push against Prop. 50 as the California GOP’s Game 7 — a nod to Friday night’s World Series battle between the Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays.

    “Orange County right now is the only county in Southern California that has a shot of having more Republicans than Democrats voting,” O’Neill said. “We expect that over the next three days, around 70% of everyone who votes is gonna vote no on 50. But we need them to vote.”

    Ariana Assenmacher, of California Young Republicans, center, organizes during a gathering of Republican Party members pressing to vote no on Proposition 50 in the upcoming California Statewide Special Election at John Wayne Park in Newport Beach on Saturday, November 1, 2025.

    (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

    O’Neill labeled the measure a “hyper-partisan power grab.” If Prop. 50 passes, it will dilute Republican power in Orange County by splitting communities and roping some residents into districts represented by Los Angeles County politicians.

    Dixon also rallied volunteers — which included a handful of college students from across the state: “Be polite. Just say thank you very much. Just like Charlie Kirk would. Don’t [stimulate] an argument. Just be friendly.”

    “They’re squeezing out what very little representation Republicans have in the state,” said Kristen Nicole Valle, president of the Orange County Young Republicans.

    “We will not be hearing from 40% of Californians if Prop. 50 passes.”

    Randall Avila, executive director of the Orange County GOP, said the measure disenfranchises Latino GOP voters like himself.

    Nationally, Trump managed to gain 48% of the Latino vote, a Pew Research study showed, which proved crucial to his second presidential victory.

    “Obviously our community has kind of shown we’re willing to switch parties and go another direction if that elected official or that party isn’t serving us,” Avila said. “So it’s unfortunate that some of those voices are now gonna be silenced with a predetermined winner in their district.”

    Not all hope is lost for Republicans if Prop. 50 is approved, Avila said. A handful of seats could be snagged by Republicans, including the districts held by Reps. Dave Min (D-Irvine) and Derek Tran (D-Orange).

    “If the lines do change, that doesn’t mean we pack up and go home,” he said. “Just means we reorganize, we reconfigure things, and then we keep fighting.”

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    Seema Mehta, Andrea Flores

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