Recently a friend considering candidates for CA governor made the observation that none have Newsom-like charisma. I agreed — and then I said that’s not a problem.
Less-charismatic candidates suffer when they compete against charismatic candidates, but when none of the candidates are particularly charismatic, then it’s not a problem. None of the Democrats running for governor this year are particularly charismatic. The Republican side is different (Steve Hilton has loads of personality) but that doesn’t matter much in deeply-Blue California.
Most importantly, charisma is a dangerous distraction when it comes to state and local governments. That’s because state and local governments in our federalist system deliver most domestic government services such as education and transportation. Governors are responsible for making sure kids learn, trains are built, and taxpayers get value for money. Newsom is an example of the damage that can be caused by a governor who is charismatic but poor at delivering domestic services.
As governor he has spent nearly $4 trillion, including federal funds, but the state is markedly worse off than it was when he took over from Jerry Brown in 2019. I saw this phenomenon first-hand when I served alongside then-Lieutenant-Governor Gavin Newsom as a UC Regent before government unions had me removed from that post (see “UC Regent Crane Ousted For Telling Hard Truths”). It turns out that UC Regents don’t really do very much, but it was a useful platform for Newsom to signal virtue to select audiences before he ran for governor. Often those audiences were students. Newsom paid special homage to them — but then as governor he caved in to government unions and other special interests to the detriment of students as he dropped UC’s share of the General Fund more than 30%. He also pulled the rug from under K-12 students by knuckling under to teachers’ unions who kept CA schools closed longer than any other state.
The governors I tend to admire are those that excel at serving residents and taxpayers such as former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and former Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo. Into that same competence camp falls San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who excels at serving the residents of his city and who I support for governor. None of them have Newsom’s or Trump’s charisma, but all of them excel at their jobs. As you look at candidates for governor, I urge you to pay attention to how well or poorly they do their jobs, not how they look.
