In responding to a series of events largely beyond his control, Gov. Gavin Newsom has emerged as one of the most powerful governors in California history.
President Joe Biden’s election allowed Newsom to reshape Democratic leadership in the state with a series of historic appointments. He named Alex Padilla as California’s first Latino U.S. senator when Kamala Harris stepped down to become vice president; Shirley Weber as the state’s first Black secretary of state to replace Padilla; and Rob Bonta as the first Filipino American California attorney general when Xavier Becerra resigned to join Biden’s Cabinet. Not since the 1950s had a governor named so many people to such heights of power in just a few weeks’ time — and certainly not with such a focus on diversity.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Newsom gained extraordinary power to manage the disaster with a statewide emergency order that is still in place today. It gives him broad authority to change regulations, suspend laws and redirect money, power upheld by the state Supreme Court after it was challenged in a lawsuit filed by two Republican lawmakers. Newsom has largely wielded the power responsibly, though most classrooms were shuttered for too long last year and we wish he’d required school districts to get students back on campus sooner.
