Governors In Hot Water Over Their Coronavirus Response
Governors from both parties are increasingly finding themselves in the hot seat over their response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Charlie Baker, the Republican governor of Massachusetts who's up for reelection in 2022, has become the latest state leader to face criticism in recent months. He joins Andrew Cuomo (D) of New York and Gavin Newsom (D) of California as one of the high-profile governors to see his reputation take a noticeable hit amid the public health crisis, posing a potential challenge to his future political ambitions.
The recent turn of events presents a stark contrast to the early months of the pandemic, when many governors — Cuomo in particular — gained positive media exposure for their responses to COVID-19. Most governors, in fact, had higher approval ratings than former President Trump at the beginning of the crisis.
Republicans are quick to draw a contrast between Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who has taken the opposite approach to the pandemic, aggressively pushing for reopenings while Democrats like Newsom favored statewide shutdowns.
“In a lot of DeSantis’s counties, people are in in-person schools and the economy is rebounding,” said Florida-based GOP strategist Ford O’Connell. “Newsom is starting from, how shall I say? Scratch.”
Democrats Failing To Endorse Dianne Feinstein Gives Progressive Push
Sen. Dianne Feinstein wields instant name recognition and a sizable campaign war chest in her push to extend a 25-year career on Capitol Hill this November — but a chunk of her own party appears to be through with her.
The California Democratic Party declined this weekend to endorse Mrs. Feinstein, delivering a huge boost to state Senate leader Kevin de Leon, her chief challenger who’s running to her left.
The battle between the two Democrats ahead of the June 5 primary underscores an emerging war for the soul of their party, even as they eye big gains against President Trump and the GOP in November.
Mr. de Leon says he’s part of a new crop of progressive leaders fighting for single-payer health care, full protections for illegal immigrants and stiffer efforts to stem climate change.
A Public Policy Institute of California poll earlier this month gave Mrs. Feinstein a wide lead, 46 percent to 17 percent, over Mr. de Leon in the state’s open primary.
The top two vote-getters advance to the November general election, regardless of party.
GOP strategist Ford O’Connell, though, said rushing to mount a serious primary challenge in the deep-blue state would drain party resources during a critical election year. He said Republicans might be able to divide and conquer Democrats in other races in California.
“The opportunity is in the House, not the Senate,” he said.
Blue-State Republicans Push Tax Law Changes
Some blue-state Republicans are pushing for tax changes to help their constituents as Democrats seek to target the suburbs in the midterm elections.
Nearly all of the GOP lawmakers who voted against the sweeping tax-cut bill in December did so because of a cap on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction that would be particularly damaging in high-tax areas such as New York, New Jersey and California. Now that the bill is law, some of those lawmakers are offering legislation to prevent their constituents from seeing tax hikes.
Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.), a top target in November, is planning to offer legislation that would allow everyone who prepaid their 2018 property taxes to deduct them on their 2017 returns.
Lance and others also say they still want to see the full SALT deduction restored.
And a number of blue-state Republicans, including those who voted for the tax bill, are calling for Democratic state officials to lower taxes.
The midterm elections are shaping up to be challenging for Republicans. The president’s party typically loses congressional seats in the midterms, and President Trump’s approval rating in recent polls is only around 40 percent.
A number of high-profile GOP lawmakers have decided to retire rather than face potentially difficult contests — including House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.), who said on Monday that he would not seek reelection.
Many districts held by GOP lawmakers in blue states were being targeted by Democrats even before the tax bill passed, since Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton won or only narrowly lost them in 2016. The tax bill only complicates things further.
GOP strategist Ford O'Connell said that blue-state Republicans are all making the case that they’re fighting for their constituents, though they are not all doing so in the same way.
“They’re not all singing from the same hymn book,” he said.
Obama Admits Attack Was ‘Act Of Terrorism’
President Obama’s pledge to largely stay the course in his strategy to defeat Islamic State militants last night was at times encouraging and underwhelming, politicians and security experts told the Herald, as Obama sought to use a rare Oval Office address to quell national unease after the apparently ISIS-inspired mass shooting in California.
Speaking to the nation for only his third time from the Oval Office, Obama said the “threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it” and that the San Bernardino shooters had “gone down the dark path of radicalization.”
“This was an act of terrorism designed to kill innocent people,” he said in the 13-minute address.
Obama did propose some minor steps, calling for a review of the visa waiver program the female shooter used to enter the country. He also called on Congress to pass new authorization for military actions underway in Iraq and Syria, and to approve legislation to keep people on the “no-fly list” from buying guns.
Republican strategist Ford O’Connell told the Herald Obama “gets kudos for finally acknowledging that this was an act of terrorism,” but said the address was “largely a defensive speech that didn’t inspire confidence that Obama’s taking the fight to ISIS and terrorists at large.”
Boehner Departure Could Put 2nd Californian In Top House Spot
Kevin McCarthy, the prematurely gray, 50-year-old former “young gun” Republican from Bakersfield, is heir apparent to become speaker of the House of Representatives with the surprise resignation of embattled Speaker John Boehner of Ohio on Friday.
With Democratic leader and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco showing no sign that she intends to retire anytime soon, the powerful but deeply divided California congressional delegation would have the top two jobs in the “people’s chamber” of Congress should McCarthy win election by his colleagues.
The leadership election is yet to be announced, but presumably will take place before Boehner leaves office in a month. Vicious internal power struggles are expected to roil the leadership even if McCarthy wins the top slot.
A small-business moderate early in his career, McCarthy has moved right with the national GOP since he entered the House in 2007 on issues such as immigration, but never has been closely allied with the party’s fire-breathing conservative wing.
His rise is due in part to his success in recruiting House candidates and raising money. That could potentially earn him loyalty from members who thought nothing of bucking Boehner.
Even so, McCarthy will face the same “antiestablishment feeling that is going throughout the country, particularly among Republican primary voters, that’s being pushed by Donald Trump’s message,” said GOP strategist Ford O’Connell. “It’s this message going on in Republican circles that everyone in politics is lying to you and is bad at their jobs and Republican leaders are the worst of all because they’re elected to represent your views.”
Read more from Carolyn Lochhead at The San Francisco Chronicle
