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#  A Vote for Prop 50 Is Not Necessarily an Endorsement of Newsom as Presidential Material

Written by Liz Amsden on November 03 2025.

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ACCORDING TO LIZ - Lots has been written about the removal of the authority vested in the bipartisan California Citizens Redistricting Commission to help balance the scales for the midterms following Republican gerrymandering in other states to put their thumb down on the Trump side of the fairness scale.

There has also been much finger-pointing at Governor Gavin Newsom for using Proposition 50 as a jumping off point for a presidential campaign for 2028.

But there are a lot of valid reasons to support Prop 50 in the short term to help California maintain its own progressive policies on immigration and climate concerns. So long as power returns to the Citizens Redistricting Commission after 2028.

On the other hand, a great many reasons exist as to why Newsom is not and will never be a suitable contender for the Democratic nominee for president.

Not saying that the DNC doesn’t see him as appropriate fodder for their interests. It’s just that the interests of the vast majority of Americans are not reflected in those interests.

And, certainly, the tweaking of Californians electoral districts won’t win him many votes from those vehemently opposed in the Golden State nor from the purveyors of similar reforms in red states.

And, while increasing the chances of turning the House blue in the midterms may multiply the love in progressive communities around the country and even peel off Republican voters suffering the consequences of Trump’s evisceration of the social services on which they depend, there are too many negatives arrayed against Newsom to make any campaign for the White House competitive.

As a Tricky-Dicky style white establishment male, he has little chance of inspiring the young and non-white voters who spearheaded the shift against institutional Democrats in the 2024 election. Including, since she refused to come out against the most egregious of Biden’s policy failings leaving her campaign open to a disenchanted electorate that chose not to vote at all.

Newsom is a politician that talks the talk in this majority-progressive state but, cozily in bed with corporate interests that feather his future, rarely walks the walk. And has a disconcerting habit of refusing to sign bills passed by both the Assembly and Senate in the face of their and the people’s wishes.

There are always strategic risks and trade-offs for local and state politicos trying to build a national image, but it doesn’t work when their purported base – in this case the people of California – have turned against them.

Both Newsom’s approval and disapproval ratings were running about 35% in June and any bump from a one-hit wonder in a time of turmoil and economic backsliding won’t last past this vote.

That he scored only 5% higher than Trump in a September poll isn’t saying a lot. Or perhaps it does.

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