If and when Gavin Newsom launches a campaign for president, economic and social conditions in the California he’s governed for two terms will be in the spotlight. While Newsom brags incessantly about the state and its achievements, its chronic problems, such as a high level of homelessness, are obvious to anyone. Political media and his rivals will focus on them with laser-like intensity. Given the dynamics of last year’s presidential contest, in which worries about rising costs of living played a role in Californian Kamala Harris’s loss to Donald Trump, California’s very high costs for housing and other fundamental living needs, would be fodder for attacks on Newsom in 2028.
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California’s residential and commercial electricity rates are the highest in the nation’s lower 48 states, according to a monthly compilation by the California Center for Jobs & the Economy, an adjunct to the California Business Roundtable. Californians’ actual power bills are the ninth-highest due to the state’s relatively mild climate, the report found.