Kevin Faulconer announces campaign for California governor
Former mayor of San Diego says “It’s time for a California comeback” in new political venture
Tyler Pugmire / News Editor
Kevin Faulconer reached his six-year term limit as mayor of San Diego in 2020 and has now focused his efforts to be the next governor of California, challenging incumbent Gavin Newsom in either the upcoming 2022 election, or in a recall election that would happen in July.
Faulconer is running on the platform that he is not an establishment figure, and is using his former status as the only California Republican to be the mayor of a large city to show that he can bring Democrats across party lines to elect him in 2022. His main criticism of Newsom comes in the form of how the state has responded to the pandemic, and Faulconer has shared that he signed the petition to recall the current governor.
The former mayor lists reducing homelessness as his number one priority on his campaign website and has made claims that he is proud of his recent work in San Diego, which was able to house homeless persons when the pandemic began through Operation Shelter to Home. Faulconer touted that San Diego was the only big city in California to see homelessness rates go down in the past four years.
Critics of Faulconer point out that he only prioritized the homelessness crisis after the 2016-2017 Hepatitis A outbreak that wiped through San Diego’s homeless population. Faulconer has also been criticized for losing the Chargers, paying $535,000 per month to a vacant highrise, and not doing enough to help rent control.
If Newsom is recalled, Faulconer would be the most notable challenger, even with his Republican party status in the Democrat-heavy state. The Recall Governor Gavin Newsom Committee has received 1.3 million signatures up until this point, but will need 200,000 more before Mar. 17 in order for a recall election to take place. Former Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox says he would also run against Gov. Newsom if the recall movement receives enough signatures.
Joe Biden’s White House team has declared opposition to the Recall of Newsom.
The last Republican governor of California was Arnold Schwarzenegger, who came into office in 2003 after a recall of Gray Davis, who was caught in an electricity scam for the whole state. Ever since, recalls have been used as a threat against anyone in the California governor’s office.
Governor Newsom stated at a press conference at Dodger Stadium that his efforts are focused on the pandemic and vaccine distribution, and has not paid too much attention to the recall effort.
On Feb. 9, Gavin Newsom took a trip to Petco Park, one of the mass vaccination sites in San Diego. He was joined by two of the top Democrats in the city, Mayor Todd Gloria and County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher. Gloria and Fletcher both reinforced the idea that the city will be working in accordance with the state’s leadership in order to get more vaccines distributed in a timely manner.
Faulconer is going to need both Democrats and Independents to lean heavily away from Gavin Newsom if he wants a chance to win. As he has the support of other Republicans across the state and country, whether it will be enough is still up in the air. Recall or not, Faulconer has a long way to go to reach the top if he wants to gain power in the nation’s largest state.