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1. Highest Cost-of-Living in the Nation
California has the highest cost-of-living burden in the country under Gavin Newsom. In fact, our “2023 Cost of California Report” found that living in the state imposes a $26,478.72 additional cost on middle class families, compared to the national average.
By every measurement, Californians pay more for their cost of living than residents in other states. This is from a variety of factors including massive tax hikes and minimum wage increases which have dramatically increased the prices of goods and services in the state — and chased businesses away. For example, thanks to Newsom’s policies, the total gas tax obligation for Californians will be approximately $2 per gallon in 2026.
2. Soaring Crime
According to a recent report by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on crime rates in 2022, while nationwide crime has gone down, California's crime rate is consistently spiking and went up in 2022 by a staggering 13%.
The passage of Proposition 47 and Proposition 57 in California (both championed by Gavin Newsom) are key drivers of the increase in crime over recent years. These flawed propositions tied the hands of law enforcement to crack down on crime and reduced many penalties to simple slaps on the wrist — emboldening criminals and causing repeat offenses.
Instead of admitting his mistakes that led to California’s current crime wave, Gavin Newsom doubling down on his failure and is thwarting efforts to enact reforms to restore the ability of law enforcement to arrest and punish criminals.
3. Worst Homelessness Crisis in the Nation
Despite California spending over $24 billion on homeless prevention programs from 2018 to 2022 alone, California’s homelessness crisis has gotten far worse under Newsom’s leadership. From 2007 to 2022, homelessness nationally has fallen 10%, but it has increased in California by a staggering 31.6% according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In fact, California represents roughly 12% of the US population – but has a third of the homeless population.
Newsom is using the flawed “Housing First” approach, which claims that a homeless individual having a home will cure their problem. This approach fails to address the root causes of most homelessness: addiction and mental illness.
According to a study by the American Journal of Community Psychology, 75% of chronically homeless individuals have substance abuse or severe mental illness.
But under Newsom, California state regulations ban funding from being given to homeless programs if they dare try to enforce rules like no drug use or required mental health treatment.
4. Weakest Election Integrity in Nation
The bedrock of our functioning republic is the public’s trust in our election system and the integrity of election results. But Gavin Newsom has actively undermined election integrity in California by: reducing the amount of polling centers, green-lighting ballot production policies that lead to duplicate ballots, refusing to clean voter rolls, and much more.
In fact, our audit of the 2022 California Election found that the state failed 9-out-of-10 election integrity metrics and found ample evidence of fraudulent voting.
5. Helping Human Traffickers While Creating a Border Crisis
Gavin Newsom has supported Joe Biden's reckless “open borders” policy, which has resulted in record numbers of illegal immigrants crossing every month since Biden took office, including hundreds of individuals on the terror watch list.
Newsom has denigrated border patrol agents as racists, supported numerous changes in policies to take away their ability to do their jobs, supported a Sanctuary State law for California to ban any cooperation between law enforcement and ICE/border patrol agents, and has continued to increase welfare payments to illegal immigrants to incentivize them to come to the US illegally.
6. Failing Schools – And Attacks on Parents
California schools are failing and are more concerned about spreading toxic curriculum than core competencies under Gavin Newsom. Test scores in California have shown a steep decline in reading and math achievement for 3rd through 11th grade. Of the most shocking results, only 13% of students in Bakersfield met the state standard for math, and only 41% of students in Los Angeles Unified were proficient in reading.
For the first time in 20 years, California public school enrollment has now fallen below 6 million with a decrease of 1.4% last year. In urban and more liberal areas of the state like the Bay Area, enrollment dipped as much as 4%. Charter school enrollment also decreased by 2%, while private school enrollment saw an increase of 1.7%.
But Newsom has turned a blind eye to these results and has been focused on attacking parents and removing parents’ “Right to Know” about what their children are learning and whether they are having challenges over their identity.
7. Negligence Creating an Insurance Crisis
Under Newsom, several insurers have announced plans to increase rates or pause or cease coverage in California.
The insurance crisis is caused by three drivers:
First, massive surge in inflation under Newsom and Joe Biden has caused the cost of home damage repair (construction/appliance costs) to skyrocket way above the assumed models that insurance companies expected when they set premiums in 2019-2023.
Second, the severity of wildfires is worse because Newsom has failed to implement proper forest management practices.
Third, the state insurance regulations prevent insurance companies from providing cost-efficient policies that reflect rapidly changing market conditions.
Newsom has failed to address these causes and has instead attempted to blame “Climate Change” for the insurance crisis.
8. A Pattern of “Pay-to-Play” Politics
Gavin Newsom appears to have engaged in pay-to-play politics by receiving millions from state contractors and developers and rewarding them with billions in state contracts and housing subsidies. Conveniently, these same special interests donate to his wife's 501c3 foundation, from which she has drawn more than a million dollars in compensation.
Newsom also recently took a lot of heat over “Panera-Gate” — in which he allegedly exempted Panera from a $20 per hour minimum wage increase bill after a Panera owner donated to Newsom’s campaign.
9. Failed Green New Deal Policies (Energy, Water Rationing)
Newsoms’ “Green New Deal” policies have resulted in the shutdown and restriction of nuclear and natural gas plants, leading to a reliance on unreliable solar and wind energy sources. He has also imposed mandates, taxes, and regulations on gas and energy, resulting in the highest rates in the nation and a crushing burden on working families.
In fact, consumers are forced to pay higher utility rates to fund government-mandated "public purpose" programs, such as welfare assistance, climate change programs, and wildfire preparedness. There is also a "High Usage Charge," which is basically a "Hidden Usage Charge," on all energy bills, penalizing consumers for using over a certain amount of energy.
By choking energy production, politicians have forced California to import 30% of its energy each year from neighboring states. These failures have led to increased energy costs for Californians and a strain on the state's electrical grid.
Newsom has also been negligent in his mismanagement of the state’s water supply. Only 5% of California's water is used for residential, retail, and commercial consumption, while 40-45% is used by agriculture and 50-55% is directed out to the ocean.
Environmental restrictions have also led to less usage of rivers, such as the case of the Delta Smelt. New technologies to enhance water supplies have been rejected by Newsom and state politicians.
10. Destroying Direct Democracy by Gutting Citizen Initiative Rights
In October, Newsom filed for an “Emergency Injunction” from the liberal-dominated California Supreme Court to prohibit voters from voting on the California Taxpayer Protection Initiative in the November 2024 election – despite the fact that citizens had collected the required 1 million signatures to force the issue onto the ballot.
Before the CA Supreme Court, Gavin Newsom’s legal team argued that voters are too stupid to decide on important issues like tax hikes! “The voters simply don’t have the capacity,” claimed Margaret Prinzing, attorney for Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The liberal court unanimously sided with Newsom, blocking the California Taxpayer Protection Initiative from the November ballot — effectively stripping citizens of the initiative rights that they have had for over 112 years.
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