Copyright Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Sen. Alex Padilla did not level with California voters about why he really decided against running to replace Gavin Newsom as governor. On Tuesday afternoon, Padilla said he wanted to continue fighting President Donald Trump. Yet come Tuesday night, with the passage of the pro-gerrymandering Proposition 50, Newsom had masterfully used his job as governor to emerge as the Democratic Party’s undisputed leader in its battle against the president. Newsom basically proved Padilla’s stated rationale for avoiding the governorship is dubious at best. What’s indisputable is that Padilla is taking the safe political route in California politics. He is 52 and, absent a spectacular controversy that is highly unlikely given his upstanding character, Padilla has a lifetime appointment to one of nation’s highest-elected jobs. He apparently does not want to give that up for a grueling campaign and then likely eight difficult years addressing all the California affordability problems Newsom will leave behind. Padilla tried his best to portray his residency in Washington as crucial to his ability to fight Trump. “I choose not just to stay in the Senate,” Padilla told a gathering of Washington reporters on Tuesday. “I choose to stay in this fight because the Constitution is worth fighting for. Our fundamental rights are worth fighting for. Our core values are worth fighting for. The American dream is worth fighting for.” The window of opportunity was wide open to return to California for Padilla, who was appointed to the job in 2021 by Newsom to succeed the new vice president at the time, Kamala Harris. Orange County’s Katie Porter has emerged to anchor the candidacy representing the left of the party, but none of the more centrist contenders have gained much traction. Padilla was and is the logical candidate to fill that void. As one of 100 senators, Padilla has been a back bencher in anything related to Trump, particularly given how his party is in minority status and has no power. His most notable moment of resistance was when federal agents pushed him to the ground and handcuffed him in Los Angeles as he was trying to ask Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question at a press conference. Meanwhile, Newsom, as California’s chief executive, has been writing the new textbook on how to lead a resistance against a president seeking to wield unprecedented power. Newsom has turned the governorship into an effective social media platform, sometimes on an hourly basis, and deserves that attention because he leads the world’s fourth-largest economy. Setting aside whether gerrymandering congressional seats in California is ever a good idea, Newsom’s invention of the Prop. 50 initiative was nothing short of political genius. Prop. 50 redraws congressional maps for the next six years to remove as many as five incumbent Republicans. Newsom tapped into the anger that most Californians felt about Trump, led a successful campaign and cemented his status as his party’s early top contender to be its presidential nominee come 2028. A Californian who wants to lead the fight against Trump has to do it from Sacramento, or in Newsom’s case because he is special, his fancy home in Marin County. Yet Padilla prefers Washington. And who can blame him? There is no more rarefied air in American politics than the Senate. Padilla would have had to spend more time in California and away from Washington to run for governor, admittedly a hellish schedule. On a personal level, who can blame him? Yet had he done so, he could have been the kind of governor that Newsom decidedly is not, one with vast legislative experience who can collaboratively tackle our thorniest of problems. Pete Wilson ran for California governor 35 years ago while serving admirably in Washington in the Senate. This temporary double political life has been done before. And Wilson won. Padilla as governor seemed so plausible, almost preordained, until his false reasoning on Tuesday. Now the governor’s race is adrift once again. And Padilla is anchored, perhaps for many years, in Washington. Tom Philp is a columnist for the Sacramento Bee.
