DeSantis crosses enemy lines

From: POLITICO California Playbook - Friday Mar 03,2023 02:11 pm

Mar 03, 2023

By Lara Korte, Jeremy B. White, Ramon Castanos and Matthew Brown

Presented by SEIU-UHW

THE BUZZ: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is paying a visit to the state he loves to hate.

The Republican governor and likely presidential candidate is visiting Orange County on Sunday — headlining a fundraising event for the GOP there and speaking at a sold-out event at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley about his recently-released book, “The Courage to Be Free.” (More on what’s in that book from our D.C. colleagues)

DeSantis, while popular among Republicans here, is perhaps better known in California as the arch-enemy of Gov. Gavin Newsom. The two frequently use each other as political foils — a relationship that has them trading barbs on everything from abortion rights to Covid policies to hair products.

DeSantis wouldn’t be heading into the belly of the beast without a good reason. Orange County has been a longtime cash cow for candidates up and down the ballot — especially those with an eye to the White House. The stakes are even higher in 2024. With California’s Republican primaries so early in the cycle, the GOP candidate who can sweep the most delegates in the state could get a major boost toward becoming the party’s nominee.

Meaning, we could see more DeSantis-types taking tours across the Golden State, looking to sway some of the state’s 5.2 million Republicans.

Former President Donald Trump easily won the majority of California delegates in both the 2016 and 2020 primaries. But in both cycles the nominee was all but decided by the time Californians cast their votes. And, as in other parts of the country, enthusiasm for the former president has been waning in California.

DeSantis offers an alternative for Republicans who may be tired of the former president and all the drama that surrounded his tenure. Unlike Trump, DeSantis has a tendency to be reserved – even aloof by some measures. A recent poll from U.C. Berkeley found Trump lagging behind the Florida governor by 17 points in California.

But California Republicans, even though they are vastly outnumbered by Democrats, are not a monolith. The preferences of those in San Diego or Orange County will often differ from their counterparts in more rural parts of the state.

So far, the only candidates to formally enter the race as Republicans are Trump and former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley. DeSantis isn’t likely to be far behind. As our Florida colleague Gary Fineout reported Thursday, California is just one part of the governor’s roadshow.

BUENOS DÍAS, good Friday morning. Vice President Kamala Harris returns to San Francisco today for a roundtable with AAPI businesses.

Got a tip or story idea for California Playbook? Hit us up at jwhite@politico.com and lkorte@politico.com or follow us on Twitter @JeremyBWhite and @Lara_Korte.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Julie who?” West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin when asked about new U.S. labor secretary nominee Julie Su, via Bloomberg.

TWEET OF THE DAY:

Magnificent view from space today of California. A deep snowpack stretches all the way from the Oregon border to Baja California.

Twitter

WHERE’S GAVIN? Out of state on personal business. He’s returning on Sunday.

A message from SEIU-UHW:

Healthcare workers are burnt out and underpaid, causing many to leave their jobs. Now, California faces an urgent healthcare worker shortage that threatens patient care. Tell lawmakers: Stop the shortage. Pass SB 525 Healthcare Worker Minimum Wage bill.

TOP TALKERS

— Dianne Feinstein said she’s been hospitalized for treatment of shingles in San Francisco, by POLITICO’s Anthony Adragna and Marianne LeVine: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the longest-serving woman in Senate history, said she's been hospitalized for treatment of shingles in San Francisco. She's missed all the votes this week in the Senate."

— “Tesla vs gas cars: Here's how far EVs can go on a California road trip,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Andrew Williams and Dustin Gardiner: “When it comes to longer trips, not all electric cars are created equal. Whether a jaunt takes longer or costs less on electric wheels versus a gas-guzzler often depends on the car in question.”

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.

CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR

— “Despite union opposition, many teachers support dyslexia screening for all students,” by CalMatters’ Joe Hong: “Officials at Decoding Dyslexia CA, a grassroots advocacy group, say hundreds, if not thousands, of teachers working with students who struggle with reading support universal screening.”

— “Worker safety laws don’t protect these California workers. A new bill would change that,” by CalMatters’ Jeanne Kuang: “A proposal in the state Senate sponsored by the California Domestic Workers Coalition would remove the exclusion, opening the door for the state’s Division of Occupational Health and Safety (CalOSHA) to issue workplace safety rules for any household employing a domestic worker.”

— “California gave up on mandating Covid vaccines for school children. Here’s why that’s wise,” opines Tracy Beth Hoeg for the Los Angeles Times: “It became apparent that more than 30,000 unvaccinated students could be excluded from classrooms, disproportionately affecting young people of color who had already suffered substantial educational setbacks during the pandemic.”

— “Pandemic food benefits are ending for millions of Californians. Now what?” by the Los Angeles Times’ Mackenzie Mays: “The average CalFresh recipient is expected to lose $82 per month, and the average household about $200 per month. The decrease will be most significant for older Californians, with monthly benefits projected to drop for some from $281 to $23.”

— “The California Republican Party says it wants to attract Black voters. Maybe stop insulting us?” opines Justin Phillips for the San Francisco Chronicle: “One moment, panelists were gushing about the resilience of Black people and talking about how Black communities are open to diverse political dialogues; the next, they were condemning the prevalence of single mother households and saying that Black people need to work harder to improve their lots in life.”

— “Gavin Newsom blames oil companies for California's high gas prices. Could the state sue them?” by The Sacramento Bee’s Maggie Angst: “California regulators and industry analysts say that the state needs to gather more information and data — not just from the state’s major refiners but from retailers and other industry powers — to get a full scope of the factors at play across the state’s complex fuel landscape.”

— “PG&E can keep operating Diablo Canyon — at least for now, feds say,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Sammy Roth: “It’s not yet certain that the reactors will be allowed to keep humming past 2025.”

— “Legislative analyst opposes Newsom’s plan for more funding to high-poverty schools,” by EdSource’s John Fensterwald: “The legislative analyst pointed to a state audit and research by the Public Policy Institute of California that revealed that much of the targeted funding either could not be tracked or was spent on districtwide purposes and didn’t reach high-needs schools.”

A message from SEIU-UHW:

SILICON VALLEYLAND

— “Could California become the first state to require Tesla charging stations to open to all EVs?,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Dustin Gardiner: “Now, a California legislator is attempting to solve the problem by forcing Tesla and other station operators to open their networks to all drivers. Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel has unveiled a bill that would require new public stations to be accessible to all drivers and have universal connecting ports.”

— “New Biden cybersecurity strategy assigns responsibility to tech firms,” by The New York Times’ David E. Sanger: “If enacted into new regulations and laws, it would force companies to implement minimum cybersecurity measures for critical infrastructure — and, perhaps, impose liability on firms that fail to secure their code, much like automakers and their suppliers are held liable for faulty airbags or defective brakes.”

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A message from SEIU-UHW:

While hospitals made billions during the pandemic, patient care has gotten worse. Why? Healthcare workers are burnt out and underpaid, causing many to leave their jobs. Now, California faces an urgent healthcare worker shortage.

Lawmakers have a choice: Pass SB 525 Healthcare Worker Minimum Wage bill or put more patients at risk.