Gavin Newsom’s Historic Losing Streak

Yesterday brought another loss for Gavin Newsom, as San Diego restaurants can now open. “Given every opportunity, the State has provided the Court with no evidence” to justify the closures, the Judge ruled.

This follows a ruling in LA that banning outdoor dining was “not grounded in science, evidence or logic.” Newsom’s Health Secretary, Dr. Ghaly, then admitted he didn’t have evidence either. Newsom’s political godfather, Willie Brown, just wrote that “there are no data behind this ‘data-driven decision making.’”

I’ve never seen a losing streak quite like Governor Newsom is on – and I’ve been rooting for the Sacramento Kings my whole life. Consider recent headlines from his favored news outlets:

• CNN: How It All Went So Wrong for Gavin Newsom
• New York Times: For California Governor the Message Is Do as I Say, Not as I Dine
• Associated Press: With His Star Dimmed, California’s Newsom Could Face Recall

In another blow, more counties are passing our Healthy Communities Resolution, rejecting Newsom’s lockdowns and insisting they not remain with us in the New Year. San Luis Obispo and Siskiyou counties are the latest to pass the Resolution, which you can download here and propose to your own Board of Supervisors.

We’ve also learned the Pacific Legal Foundation is filing an Amicus Brief with the Court of Appeals in support of our lawsuit. That’s the best legal reinforcement we could hope for as we get closer to ending the concept of a California Autocracy. Our victory at trial started this Newsom losing streak, and a win on appeal can finish it.

Of course, what can truly finish it is the citizen-led Recall effort that’s getting international attention. I’m told 36,000 signatures were collected the last three days; the AP reports “Newsom’s advisers are carefully watching the signature count.” One ominous sign for Newsom is his own party is musing about throwing him under the bus. Politico quotes a Sacramento insider “aligned with a major special interest group” as saying, “We’ve gotten calls from Democrats who are already kicking the tires.”

Adding further clarity to this picture, data released yesterday shows California just had its worst population growth in a century. We lost 135,600 people to other states over the last year. It’s not just Elon Musk, Oracle, and HP packing their bags; I lose constituents every day. Mark Baldassare with the nonpartisan PPIC called the numbers “really startling”, saying, “This isn’t the Golden State of the past,” where people came from all over “to find their way to the California dream.”

This can be an epochal moment. It’s up to us to convert Gavin Newsom’s losing streak into a winning streak for not only California and its not-quite 40 million people, but for everything we’ve stood for: opportunity, innovation, optimism, derring-do, self-government, and above all, the singular power of a free people to make tomorrow better than today.

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