Karl Rove Reveals Gavin Newsom’s Greatest Weakness Heading Into 2028

AP Photo/José Luis Villegas, File

Legendary GOP operative Karl Rove identified California Governor Gavin Newsom’s (D) Achilles’ heel heading into the 2028 election cycles in a new column for The Wall Street Journal.

“At last week’s Munich Security Conference, Gavin Newsom told the assembled world leaders that ‘Donald Trump is temporary. He’ll be gone in three years.’ The California governor is right that Mr. Trump won’t be president after Jan. 20, 2029. But the effects of his presidency will remain long after he departs the Oval Office,” began Rove, who warned that the same was true of Newsom, who will leave Sacramento next January. “The difference is that judgments of Mr. Trump’s presidency will be for the history books. The verdict on Mr. Newsom’s record will have immediate, electoral consequences if he tries to succeed Mr. Trump. It will give Mr. Newsom an awful lot to overcome.”

Under Newsom, wrote Rove, California has seen its population decline and congressional delegation shrink, as well as languished in a wide variety of economic — “No. 32 on its economy, 42 on fiscal stability, 45 on growth, 46 on employment, and dead last for opportunity,” according to U.S. News & World Report — and quality of life rankings.

“U.S. News ranked the state 36th in Pre-K-12 education and 43rd on public safety,” observed Rove. “Then there’s housing. Using Redfin data, Forbes found in September that the median California home cost $906,500, nearly twice the national average of $462,206. Only Hawaii and the District of Columbia were more expensive. No wonder California’s population growth has stalled.”

After taking a detour to bash Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) as well, he concluded that “Mr. Newsom has great hair and Mr. Pritzker a vast fortune. But neither will matter nearly as much as their records as governor. Neither man can credibly claim that he has a solid record of economic achievement. That may not matter much to Democratic primary voters. It will in November 2028.”

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