Signs bearing San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s name will be absent from Bruin Walk this week, after the Democrat dropped out of the 2010 gubernatorial race on Friday.
Prior to his withdrawal, the Students for Gavin Newsom explained Newsom’s policies to students from their booth on Bruin Walk, hoping to create name recognition. However, with Friday’s announcement, these efforts were brought to a halt.
“With a young family and responsibilities at City Hall, I have found it impossible to commit the time required to complete this effort the way it needs to ““ and should ““ be done,” said Newsom in a statement released by the mayor’s campaign, bringing an end to his short-lived run for governor of California.
While Newsom’s departure from the race leaves Attorney General Jerry Brown as the only active candidate in the Democratic primary, the Republican primary is still hotly contested, with former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, former State Senator Tom Campbell and California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner all vying to become the Republican nominee in 2010.
Allison Swislocki, fourth-year history and political science student and member of Students for Gavin Newsom, said she was disappointed by the news.
“Personally, I feel like Mayor Newsom had a lot to offer in the role of governor, a lot that would positively affect the people of California,” Swislocki said. “Especially us as students at a public university suffering from the budget crisis.”
Newsom, best known for his support of same-sex marriage as well as his opposition to Proposition 8, opposed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget cuts aimed at education.
Gon Carpel, a fourth-year communication studies and political science student and the communications director for UCLA’s chapter of Students for Gavin Newsom, still holds hope that Newsom’s platform can be represented by the Democratic nominee.
“I think that in our politics we focus too much on candidates and not enough on policies,” Carpel said. “I hope that the candidate who the Democrats nominate will adopt some of Newsom’s policies, which are ones that I and other college students in California can really get behind.”
Since the less-liberal Brown is the only one left in the Democratic race, the chance of Newsom’s policies appearing in another candidate appear slim.
“California’s a blue state, but the fact of the matter is that it’s not that blue,” said Andrew Kreitz, a fourth-year business economics student and chairman of Bruin Republicans.
Statewide polls back this observation, showing that Newsom was able to find little support outside of the liberal San Francisco.
A far-left politician like Newsom might have stood a chance in the Democratic primary, but not in the general election, Kreitz said, citing Newsom’s spending history as San Francisco’s mayor as a problem when the state is in such a grave financial situation.
Carrie McFadden, president of Bruin Democrats and fourth-year political science student, said she still hopes for a competitive race, despite Newsom’s dropout.
“I hope Jerry Brown campaigns just as hard as he would with Newsom in the race, and I’m hoping former Newsom supporters will back Jerry Brown,” McFadden said.