San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan announced his run for governor Thursday, slammed Newsom’s attention-hogging Twitter antics in an interview.<\/b>
\nHe\u2019s photogenic, has great hair, and isn\u2019t afraid of lefty Democrats.
No, we aren\u2019t talking about Gavin Newsom.
In fact, the latest contender in the congested governor\u2019s race doesn\u2019t even like California\u2019s alpha Dem.
And the feeling is mutual, if Newsom\u2019s rabid X account is to be believed.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan announced his run for governor Thursday, slammed Newsom\u2019s attention-hogging Twitter antics in an interview.
\u201cMy primary focus is not going to be on internet trolling,\u201d Mahan told Politico. \u201cThe best resistance is delivering results and showing that states and cities with progressive values can deliver safety, a high quality of life and economic opportunity.\u201d
Newsom sniffed, \u201cI don\u2019t know enough about him,\u201d when asked about Mahan\u2019s campaign at the Bloomberg Newsmakers conference Thursday.
It\u2019s not the first time the moderate mayor \u2014 who has fans in Silicon Valley but is little-known statewide \u2014 has feuded with Newsom, who\u2019s juicing his likely presidential bid with outrageous tweets and anti-Trump merch like the $100 kneepads he hawked at Davos.
He traded catty tweets with Newsom\u2019s press team earlier this month over funding for a San Jose \u201ctiny home\u201d village for the homeless \u2014 one of Mahan\u2019s signature initiatives as mayor.
And the two Democrats clashed over Prop. 36, a popular voter initiative that increased penalties for certain drug and theft crimes. Tough-on-crime Mahan backed the measure, while Newsom has avoided funding the prop, which passed with nearly 70% of votes.Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters
Mahan is betting that voters are sick of the Newsom show but willing to roll the dice on a low-profile, moderate Dem \u2014 even though it risks handing the seat to a Republican for the first time since Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Polling shows that two Republicans \u2014 Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco \u2014 are leading or near the top of the pack as an uninspiring field of Democrats claw for votes ahead of the June primary election. On the Democratic side, Rep. Eric Swalwell and former congresswoman Katie Porter lead the pack.
If more Dems don\u2019t drop out in the months to come, the chances of them cannibalizing each other\u2019s votes and turning the governor\u2019s mansion red for the first time since 2011 would go from once unthinkable to a real possibility.
Larry Gerston, professor emeritus of political science at San Jos\u00e9 State University, said that Mahan is wise to distance himself from \u201call of the candidates who are to the left\u201d with tough-on-crime policies and a focus on fixing homelessness.
\u201cThe secret recipe for Mahan is not just the Democrat voters, it\u2019s the 30% of the state who are registered as a no political party,\u201d Gerston said.
\u201cBecause the Democrats allow no political party voters to take part in the primary, unlike Republicans, they\u2019re less political, less dogmatic, and they could look at Mahan as a fresh face.\u201d<\/p>\n