In this September 7, 2019 archive photo, Kevin Faulconer speaks during the California Republican Party’s autumn convention in Indian Wells, California. Chris Carlson, Archive / AP
OAKLAND, Calif. – With Governor Gavin Newsom’s recall movement gaining momentum in California, Republican Kevin Faulconer said on Monday that he will become the first major elected official to officially launch a government campaign to challenge the Democratic leader.
Faulconer, who was mayor of San Diego for more than six years, told POLITICO in an interview on Monday that he will run for revocation if the unit qualifies by the mid-March deadline. He will formally announce his campaign on Tuesday at a campaign event in Los Angeles with parents frustrated by the closure of schools.
“It’s time for California to return,” said Faulconer. “And I’m excited to be a voice for Californians who are suffering because Sacramento can’t do the basics. This campaign will be about restoring balance and common sense for our government.”
As a moderate Republican who ran California’s second largest city, Faulconer is regularly seen as the most viable Republican for a state position in California’s solidly blue. But any Republican candidate would face a tough escalation against Newsom – who won in a landslide victory in 2018 in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by an overwhelming 46 percent to 24 percent.
Faulconer, 54, said he has raised $ 1 million in the weeks since he launched his 2022 exploratory campaign for governor. He said that his robust fundraising and support led him to launch earlier than he originally intended, as the proponents of the recall are close to collecting 1.5 million valid signatures they need in the next six weeks.
Few would have given Faulconer a chance a year ago. But the recall dynamics defies party records, as former Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proved in 2003, when he topped the list of 135 candidates when voters deposed the then governor. Gray Davis, a Democrat.
Meanwhile, Californians are frustrated as they approach the anniversary of when Newsom ordered the closure of companies to control the spread of the coronavirus. Although the governor was already praised for his success in blocking the state and avoiding widespread problems last spring, California has suffered unprecedented outbreaks that have increased the death toll to more than 40,000 in the state.
At the same time, most public school students have not been to classrooms since last March, while churches in most counties cannot hold closed services. Restaurants cannot offer closed meals and cinemas, and the main attractions are closed. Newsom angered some residents when he admitted to attending a fancy dinner in the Napa Valley in November, after asking Californians not to meet.
Newsom’s perceived vulnerability attracted the interest of other political competitors. Republican businessman John Cox, who lost to Newsom in 2018, sent a text message to supporters this week that he invested $ 1 million in the effort and proclaimed that he will run for the recall. And tech billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya has indicated to his millions of followers on Twitter that he intends to run – although so far he has not contributed money to the recall or made any formal move indicating he is serious. Palihapitiya was a Democratic donor in the past.
Faulconer said the fire behind the current recall effort comes because “there is a real sense of urgency about the need for change” amid a pandemic in which “the governor continues to miss the basics”.
He pointed out “the fact that … our public schools have not been reopened safely. And yet private schools are open and public schools across the country have reopened safely. ”Faulconer said that Newsom has failed to reach teacher unions and address the issue in detail in a way that meets the needs of California parents.
Faulconer also accused that, on the unemployment issue, “we have hundreds of thousands of Californians who cannot get unemployment benefits. And we still accumulate $ 31 billion in fraud,” he said, who allegedly was channeled to inmates and criminal networks through the Department of Employment Development of the state.
One businessman, Faulconer, said that the exodus of top tech executives to Texas and other states was also a major failure for Newsom and that he would immediately spread the message that “California is open for business”, holding direct discussions with leaders to assure them that the state will not continue to “value California companies.”
Major Faulconer donors so far include Palos Verdes real estate tycoon Gerald Marcil; investor Shawn Shiralian; Kelly Burt, former president of Nova Majority, San Diego; Douglas Barnhart, builder of Rancho Santa Fe; and Philip Oates, a Sacramento real estate executive, according to data filed in the office of the California Secretary of State.
But Faulconer has a serious responsibility in the form of former President Donald Trump, who was deeply unpopular with California voters even before the deadly Capitol siege last month. Faulconer supported Trump in the last election, and Democrats are sure to distribute a photo of the 2019 Oval Office of the former San Diego mayor alongside the former president. A Faulconer spokesman shortly after the meeting tried to refute Trump’s claim that Faulconer thanked the president for building the border wall.
Dan Newman, a political spokesman for Newsom, rejected Faulconer’s offer and said “he and all other GOP Trump supporters” will fight each other while Newsom focuses on distributing the vaccine and recovering the coronavirus.
“It is fitting that he chose Groundhog Day to announce again that he is running,” said Newman of Faulconer. “He continues to do this at the beginning of each month, hoping in vain for people to pay attention.”
On Monday, Faulconer repeatedly sought to take on the mantle of bipartisanship – and resolutely avoided questions about some of the most incendiary issues his party faces, including President Trump’s future as a candidate, his impending impeachment judgment and whether the party leadership must remain loyal to him.
“I’m not focused on President Trump … he is no longer president,” he said. “I think people are concerned with leadership, not partisanship,” he said, arguing that “I was proud … of the fact that I won the mayor twice in a city with a Democratic majority. I think that says a lot about my approach – and my ability to get results ”.
On the current story that clouded the Republican Party in Washington, DC – whether Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a supporter of QAnon conspiracy theories, should be removed from the committee’s duties – Faulconer said: “There is no place for QAnon, period … and I’m focused on what we’re doing as Californians. “
Likewise, Faulconer declined to say whether, as a Republican governor, he could appoint a Republican to occupy Dianne Feinstein’s seat in the U.S. Senate if she retired before the end of her term – a chair that could change the balance of the Senate.
“I made a lot of appointments for mayor of San Diego,” he said. “I nominated Republicans and Democrats and independents … I love to nominate great qualified individuals. That has always been my philosophy.”
He said he plans to spend the next few months presenting himself to voters across the state with an aggressive campaign across the state.
“We are going to raise the money to be competitive … I have already proved it,” he said. And “I know how to get Republican, Democratic and independent support. That’s what it will take to win the state, and that’s what I did as Mayor of San Diego.”