Gov. Gavin Newsom answering the Republican redistricting power-grab in Texas with a plan of his personal is a strong instance of how Golden State Democrats are standing as much as President Trump and firing up their base. However whereas the partisan fireworks draw consideration, California Democrats are additionally quietly providing a special form of mannequin for the nationwide social gathering which will show extra significant in the long term. They’re not simply resisting Trump; they’re really governing.
Neglect what you suppose you already know about California and its lefty Democrats. They’re inching to the middle, assembly voters the place they’re, and it’s bettering individuals’s lives.
Simply have a look at San Francisco, lengthy seen as a dysfunctional emblem of failed progressive governance.
Town’s new mayor, Daniel Lurie, a nonprofit chief and philanthropist, has shaken off left-wing taboos and centered on delivering outcomes. As a substitute of defunding the police, he’s hiring extra officers and cracking down on shoplifting and drug crimes. As a substitute of demonizing the enterprise group, he’s partnering with them. He’s additionally reforming zoning legal guidelines to make it simpler to construct extra housing, which ought to ease the town’s affordability crunch and the homelessness disaster. Lurie has been in workplace lower than a 12 months, however already crime is plummeting and his approval price has reached 73%.
Nationwide Democrats can discover a lesson right here: Voters care about outcomes, not simply empathy and beliefs.
In Sacramento, Newsom and legislative Democrats are taking an identical tack, with a cussed deal with affordability and the braveness to stare down opposition, even in their very own coalition. For instance, the Legislature just lately reformed the California Environmental High quality Act, a well-intentioned 50-year-old legislation that had been twisted to impede development tasks, clear vitality growth and public transportation. This angered some highly effective environmental activists, however it should finally assist carry down prices for housing and vitality.
CEQA reform is emblematic of California’s new, extra balanced method on some thorny points, like vitality and local weather. The state just lately introduced that two-thirds of its energy now comes from clear vitality sources — a significant achievement. On the identical time, Newsom and the Legislature agreed to a package deal of payments that may enhance oil drilling whereas extending the state’s cap-and-trade program. Collectively, the package deal can cut back vitality prices for Californians and strengthen our state’s probabilities of reaching carbon neutrality by 2045. Some environmental justice advocates and local weather purists oppose the deal, but it surely’s an instance of methods to make progress in the long run whereas addressing affordability within the quick time period.
Immigration is one other instance: Newsom and different main California Democrats proceed to face as much as the Trump administration’s inhumane immigration insurance policies, together with suing to cease the deployment of troops to Los Angeles. However additionally they just lately handed a finances that pulls again on expensive plans to offer medical health insurance to all low-income undocumented immigrants.
This displays the brand new California mannequin: principled resistance and pragmatic governance. The outcomes communicate for themselves. The Golden State just lately surpassed Japan to turn into the fourth-largest economic system on the planet.
Democratic leaders are making these strikes as a result of they’re listening to voters who persistently say that the excessive value of dwelling is their prime concern.
In 2024, these considerations contributed to a shocking variety of Californians abandoning Democrats, even with Kamala Harris, the state’s former U.S. senator and lawyer normal, on the ticket. Trump flipped 10 counties and boosted his assist in 45. Since 2016, 72% of California counties have gotten redder, together with many with heavy Latino populations.
Democrats are paying consideration and are correctly altering course. Being attentive to voter considerations doesn’t need to imply sacrificing core values, but it surely does require new approaches when the outdated methods aren’t working.
Karen Skelton (whose father is a political columnist for the Los Angeles Occasions) is a political strategist, having labored within the White Home below Presidents Clinton and Biden and at the USA Departments of Power, Transportation and Justice.
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Concepts expressed within the piece
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California Democrats are demonstrating efficient governance by shifting towards the political heart whereas sustaining their core values, providing a mannequin for the nationwide Democratic Get together that goes past mere resistance to Trump’s insurance policies.
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San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie exemplifies this pragmatic method by hiring extra law enforcement officials, cracking down on shoplifting and drug crimes, and partnering with the enterprise group relatively than demonizing it, leading to plummeting crime charges and a 73% approval ranking.
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Sacramento Democrats are prioritizing affordability and sensible outcomes over ideological purity, as demonstrated by their reform of the California Environmental High quality Act regardless of opposition from environmental activists, finally serving to to cut back housing and vitality prices.
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The state’s balanced method to vitality and local weather coverage exhibits how Democrats could make long-term progress whereas addressing rapid affordability considerations, reaching two-thirds clear vitality energy whereas additionally growing oil drilling by way of a cap-and-trade package deal.
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On immigration, California Democrats keep principled resistance to Trump’s insurance policies whereas making pragmatic finances selections, akin to pulling again on expensive plans to offer medical health insurance to all low-income undocumented immigrants.
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This strategic shift displays Democrats’ responsiveness to voter considerations concerning the excessive value of dwelling, which contributed to Trump gaining assist in 10 counties and 45 others in 2024, with 72% of California counties changing into redder since 2016.
Totally different views on the subject
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Republican leaders view California’s redistricting response as a partisan energy seize relatively than principled governance, with some vowing to problem the maps in court docket and arguing that the redistricting course of violates the California Structure by counting on outdated inhabitants information[1].
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Environmental activists and local weather advocates oppose California’s pragmatic method to vitality coverage, significantly the package deal that will increase oil drilling whereas extending cap-and-trade packages, viewing it as a betrayal of environmental justice rules.
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Progressive organizations initially opposed California’s redistricting efforts, with Frequent Trigger, a superb governance group supporting unbiased redistricting, initially opposing the state’s partisan response earlier than later reversing its stance[1].
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Some Democratic constituencies argue that pulling again on progressive insurance policies like common healthcare for undocumented immigrants represents an abandonment of core Democratic values relatively than pragmatic governance.
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Critics contend that the centrist shift represents capitulation to conservative stress relatively than principled management, arguing that Democrats ought to keep their progressive positions relatively than moderating in response to political setbacks.
