What's next for outgoing California Gov. Gavin Newsom?

...and how they're voting and hear more from some elected officials there. If you were with us about an hour ago, we got to see live Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass making another pitch to voters as, of course, she is very much on the ballot. Someone else who is on the ballot, or actually someone else who we won't be seeing on the ballot, is Governor Gavin Newsom because he is being termed out after eight years at the top seat in our state. Let's go ahead and bring in a longtime voice when it comes to politics. Political analyst Brian Sobel is with me now. Thanks for joining us, Brian. You're a political analyst based here. We're in the Bay. It's kind of interesting for those of us who grew up with Gavin Newsom. When I got to KTVU back in 2005, he was mayor of San Francisco, and then just his political rise has been watched by the nation. Yeah, Gavin Newsom has been a presence in the San Francisco Bay Area and across the state for many years, and now he has a more national profile, Garcia, and that leads one to wonder, now that he's turned out as the governor of California, what he may have his eyes on in the future, and maybe that's the 28th presidential election. But I have to note, so you just voted today? No, no, I think I put my, I walked to the post office on Friday after work, so I got it in a few days early. Yeah, I'm not, I don't push it on important things. That's exactly right. Okay, but going back to Newsom, you know, he's had a long California career. And whether that can translate to a national audience, as you will, is going to be the big question for him. Yeah, it's interesting. He's been asked so many times about, are you going to run for the White House? And his answer used to be a firm no. And then it was maybe six months ago, I think he told the Wall Street Journal in a conversation, sort of the sentiment was, after seeing what's happening around me in Washington, I may have to. Sort of this, you know, I would be compelled to run. That's obviously, to me, it sounds like a big step closer to yes. Well, and, you know, I know a lot of people in and around the governor. He's been looking at the presidency for a very, very long time. I've talked about it on KTVU many, many times. And then one of the wrinkles was, well, if Kamala Harris runs, I won't run. You remember him saying that recently. Certainly. I think it really always, always comes down to what people across the country are saying. You know, you have watched the governor moderate some of his positions, come more to the center, because if you're going to be elected president of the United States, you've got a whole lot of red states, and you've got to make friends there. And so that's why he's appearing on other programs with more conservative commentators and other people. And I think one of the polls I saw recently showed that Kamala Harris does better than Gavin Newsom. Yeah, you know, it bounces around. Kamala Harris has greater national name recognition. I mean, we hear Newsom every day in California, certainly in the Bay Area, but across the country. That's not true. When I do media in other parts of the country, Newsom isn't the first name I hear. So that's an important indicator. Kamala Harris is always in the mix because she was vice president of the United States. All right. We're getting ahead of ourselves, I feel. The reason I brought up Gavin Newsom is that he is being termed out almost at the tail end of eight years in the governor's office. Two people hoping to take over that position. Democrat Javier Becerra leading Republican Steve Hilton by a 20 plus point margin. Both have pretty much consolidated their respective bases. Do you have any question about the outcome of the governor's race in California, Brian? No. No, in fact, there is no, no. race at the state level that will go Republican. So it's an entirely blue field. It will remain blue. You know, if you looked at the race for governor, Hilton could not get really any traction. And why would he? He's you know, the the registration in California is two to one Dems and and even the independents and declined to states break Democrat. So. Hilton doesn't have a chance, but he did, in fairness, raise some critical, important issues in California that I would hope Governor Becerra will address. Anytime you're in a political race, I've been in a few, your opponent makes points that if you don't inculcate, you're missing the mark So I'm hoping... The governor, and governor-elect after tonight, will listen to what Steve Hilton talked about and incorporate some of that into his go-forwards. Is it mostly the economy you're referring to? The economy, the long time. Problems in California around everything from homelessness to crime to taxation to many other things, gas tax, everything else has to be on the table. California is suffering, as is the rest of the United States in many respects. But in California in particular, there are issues, Since we're speaking to an audience in California, Californians want. Change. And yet they're willing to elect a Democrat again on the hopes or in the hopes that Javier Becerra will make the changes that haven't occurred in the many years Democrats have been in control of the state legislature. What changes do you expect to see him make? You know, the jury's out on that, Garcia. He did not run a campaign filled with promises or with even platforms. He didn't have to. This was a foregone conclusion when the primary was over and Hilton was his opponent. Thank I think it could be argued that he could have been a lot more present talking about these issues and did not meet, by the way, you with the media very much, basically kind of skirted a lot of opportunities to speak more to the citizens of California, very opting instead for knowing that he'd be elected governor. much. I hope he, when he is in the governor's seat, that he has a real plan and wants to move Move that forward. for the uh... economic benefit of California which is really the key here right Brian, looks like we have to take a super short break, I want to pick up where you just left off on the other side of this we'll talk a little bit more about campaign strategy with Steve Hilton I've been here on Fox Local for months and it feels like every day sometimes we had two events from him and and and he was making the point of where is my challenger, so we'll talk about those kind of differing campaign tactics in a minute have to take a short break