California Governor's Race 2018: It's Newsom Vs. Cox

LOS ANGELES, CA — As the polls predicted, Gavin Newsom easily won the primary race to be California's next governor, and now he gets to square off against Republican developer John Cox in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 44 to 25 percent.

In liberal California, the race is Newsom's to lose. But Republicans have reason to declare victory Tuesday. Thanks to the state's top-two primary system, Republicans faced a real threat that none of their own would make it onto the top of the November ballot, likely suppressing voter turnout for down-ballot congressional races. But Cox got help this election season from two unlikely sources: President Donald Trump and Newsom, himself.

Cox didn't vote for Trump, but Trump endorsed him as the national party rallied to stem the tide of California Democrats who ran in local and Congressional races up and down the state in record numbers. And Newsom, seeming to relish a Republican challenger over Democratic rival former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ran a series of "attack" ads against Cox that endeared him to Republican voters.

It worked.

With all precincts counted Wednesday, Newsom led the pack of 24 candidates with 33.3 percent of the vote Cox surprised pollsters by taking a commanding lead of his own in the race for second. With 26.2 percent of the vote, he easily dashed the hopes of Villaraigosa, who garnered 13.5 percent of the vote followed by Republican Assemblyman Travis Allen at 9.7 percent, according to early returns. Only the top two candidates will appear on the November ballot.

Powered by Trump's endorsement, Cox appeared to be coasting to a spot on the November ballot Tuesday night, but the race may not be so clear cut thanks to a glitch at the polls in Los Angeles County. Villaraigosa' cried foul over the glitch, which caused more than 118,000 voters to be left off the voter roster at the polls. The voters were allowed to post provisional ballots, but Villaraigosa, fearing his SoCal base was being discouraged from voting, implored the county to keep the polls open late because of the glitch.

Villaraigosa was counting on support from Los Angeles County, and the glitch could lead to a delay in tallying many votes in his favor. But with more than 400,000 votes separating him from Cox, there is little hope for the Villaraigosa campaign.

Once considered Newsom's chief competition, Villaraigosa flailed in the polls, and despite expressing early optimism that the vote tally would eventually go his way, he conceded the race at 11 p.m.

"I'm a newlywed, and I've been in the campaign my entire new marriage," Villaraigosa told his supporters. "So now we get the opportunity to actually have a honeymoon."

In claiming victory, Newsom used the opportunity to tout his priorities and trash his rival. He vowed to fight for "guaranteed health care for all," affordable housing and an "all-hands approach to once and for all end child poverty in California."

He also painted Cox as a Trump acolyte.

Newsom painted the November race as a choice between "a governor who's gonna stand up to Donald Trump and a foot-soldier in his war on California."

"The stakes have never been higher," Newsom said, calling California a place were "we don't criminalize diversity, we celebrate diversity. A state where we don't obstruct justice, we demand justice for everybody."

For his part, Cox was unperturbed to be aligned with Trump especially as California Republicans appear to be warming to the president.

"We put a businessman in the White House. Let's put a businessman in the governor's mansion," Cox told supporters in San Diego. "This is only the first step to turning around this state and taking back California for all Californians."

Cox noted Newsom's campaign strategy that appeared aimed at advancing a Republican to the November ballot in hopes of eliminating competition between Democrats and assuring him of victory.

"Be careful, Mr. Newsom. Be careful what you wish for," Cox said.

"Let's send him the very first message, and that is it wasn't Donald Trump who made California the highest-tax state in the country, it was Gavin Newsom and the Democrats," he said.

Newsom rose to prominence in 2004 when as mayor he directed the San Francisco city-county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, which was in violation of state law at the time. Newsom has remained in the state and national spotlight ever since, and after a brief run for governor in the 2010 election he dropped out in favor of a bid for lieutenant governor when it was clear that Jerry Brown was pulling away with the race. He easily won a second term and made an early declaration in 2015 that he intended to run for governor.

Newsom has proposed a universal healthcare program for California as one of his top priorities and says he supports SB 562, a bill that aims to create a single-payer system. He also promised to oppose Trump's immigration policies, and has called for universal preschool, two years of free community college, an end to the cash bail system and gun control. He also said he wants set a goal of building 3.5 million new homes by 2025 through an expansion of the low-income housing tax credit program and other initiatives.

A relatively new name in California politics, Cox, an Illinois native who lives in San Diego, is perhaps best known for driving a series of quirky initiatives that failed to make the ballot, including a measure forcing politicians to wear patches identifying their sponsors or donors and another effort seeking to expand to the state legislature to thousands, with each member representing small neighborhoods.

Though he failed on several occasions to get his proposals on a state ballot, the efforts put him on the political map, and he is running on a platform to end Brown's $52 billion gas tax increase and end the "sanctuary" laws of the state aimed at protecting some immigrants living in the country illegally from deportation.

Cox, who has contributed $4.9 million to his campaign appeared confident going into Tuesday that he and Newsom would end up tangling in the general election.

"If you look in the dictionary for the words `Bay Area elitist,' you see Gavin Newsom's picture,'' Cox told more than 100 people Wednesday night, according to The Times.

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In every major poll, Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, led the pack of 27 contenders to succeed Gov. Jerry Brown. Newsom’s chances in the bluest of states improve considerably against an unknown Republican whose never held public office in California as opposed to Villaraigosa, the former Los Angeles mayor with deep-pocketed supporters. In a series of ads attacking Cox as too conservative, the Newsom camp had seemingly helped him to shore up his support with Republican voters.

“I think Newsom thinks his chance is stronger against a Republican challenger,” said Graeme Boushey, associate professor of political science at the University of California, Irvine. “This is putting Newsom’s camp in an uncomfortable position with the Democratic party.”

In many ways, Tuesday's election would hinge on which voter blocks turn out to vote, said Boushey. Los Angeles has millions more voters than the San Francisco area, but the Bay Area’s more affluent educated voters turn out at higher rates.

The Issues

Newsom and Cox are polar opposites on every major issue facing the state.

Perhaps, no issue divides all the top contenders more than education. Cox has made vouchers for low-income families a central part of his plan. Newsom, on the other hand, is advocating universal preschool, college savings accounts for kindergarteners, and two years of free community college for Californians.

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On immigration, the candidates fall squarely within party lines.

Cox has harsh criticism for the state’s so-called sanctuary law.

Newsom has harsh criticism of Trump's immigration policies.

“We cannot let this small, scared bully hurt our economy and turn ICE into his own personal army of hate,” Newsom tweeted.

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City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.
Photos: California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom on November 19, 2012 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
John Cox, on August 3, 2004 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)