A GOP state lawmaker from rural northern California has said that he plans to take on Gavin Newsom in the upcoming gubernatorial race.
California state Senator Brian Dahle, who represents a vast district that runs from Sacramento County to the Oregon border, announced on Tuesday, February 8th that he would be taking on the challenge of ousting the Democrat governor. This announcement comes just months after Newsom easily won a recall election attempt to remove him from office.
Dahle is calling out Newsom’s failed leadership, blaming him for the state’s homelessness crisis, rising crime rates, ridiculously high taxes, and a decaying quality of life.
At the same time, the GOP state senator is also acknowledging that his campaign is a long shot in the deep blue state, calling it a “David versus Goliath” confrontation.
Knowing that he is running an underdog campaign against a nationally recognized incumbent candidate, Dahle is urging his supporters to do anything they can, even the bare minimum, pleading with them to donate as little as $1 a day to his campaign.
“If you get four more years of this dictator, it will cost you a lot more,” he said, referring to Newsom. “It’s time for change.”
Unfortunately for Dahle, only 24% of California voters identify as Republicans, while 46% are Democrats. With Newsom’s victory in the September recall election, and his multimillion-dollar campaign account, plus the obvious blue state advantage, Republicans are having trouble finding a prominent candidate to challenge him. It appears that the little-known state senator is all that they have.
Despite the odds being stacked against them, Republicans are hoping that California voters are finally fed up with rising homelessness, the increase in smash-and-grab looting, high rent and housing costs, and the crime epidemic in general. If voters finally wise up to the fact that the Democrats’ policies are the cause of many of their problems, there could be a chance of Dahle winning against Newsom.
Dahle blames a lot of the state’s problems on one-party rule, where there is literally no competition in elections, so elected leaders see no reason to actually solve problems.
“We have seen one-party rule with the minority completely shut out,” Dahle said. “One-party rule leads to what it always leads to, corruption and government dysfunction.”
Dahle, a farmer, served on the Lassen County Board of Supervisors for 16 years before he was elected to the state Assembly in 2012. In 2019, he was elected to the state Senate. His wife, Megan Dahle, replaced him in the Assembly. The couple lives in Bieber with their two sons and daughter.
