Newsom makes trip to Texas amid feud with GOP governors
AENN
AP
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is traveling Saturday to Texas, where he will deliver a speech at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Texas.
The speech, according to event agenda shared to the Tribune’s website, will be about “what the nation’s most populous state can teach the other 49 — including [Texas].”
alifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at the Clinton Global Initiative, Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Newsom is expected to easily obtain a second term as governor later this year and has started spreading his message in several GOP-led states ahead of the midterm elections.
With little pressure at home, Newsom has been looking elsewhere to spend some of the $23 million he has in his campaign account. So far, he has bought TV ads in Florida urging people to move to California, newspaper ads in Texas decrying the state’s lax gun laws, and billboards in seven conservative states — including Texas — urging women to come to California if they need an abortion.
Newsom’s actions come after he blamed his own political party for being too soft, urging them to stand up more firmly in light of recent conservative victories at the U.S. Supreme Court that overturned federal abortion protections and loosened restrictions on guns.
“Our donors are asking for more of that,” Newsom told reporters last week when asked if his attention on other states signaled he wasn’t taking his reelection campaign seriously. “The people in the state of California are asking for more leadership in this space.”
The Associated Press contributed to this update.
