Gavin Newsom launches second term slamming red state leaders at his Jan. 6 inauguration march

On the second anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Gavin Newsom marched to California’s statehouse to deliver an inaugural speech that celebrated California’s freedoms and the state’s resistance to forces that “want to take the nation backward.”

“More than any people, in any place, California has bridged the historical expanse between freedom for some, and freedom for all,” he said under skies that were cloudy but dry for the first time in days.

“Freedom is our essence, our brand name – the abiding idea that right here anyone from anywhere can accomplish anything.”

Newsom, overwhelmingly re-elected in November, began the celebration of his second term Friday at Sacramento’s Tower Bridge, where he was joined by family, top state officials such as Attorney General Rob Bonta, trade union workers, civil rights activist Dolores Huerta and other notables to walk one mile down the Capitol Mall toward the statehouse. It was intended as counterpoint to the 2021 attack on the nation’s Capitol, though Newsom reportedly did not complete the full march and took a waiting car to the final inauguration site in front of the state Capitol building.

Then, in a wide-ranging speech after being sworn in, Newsom slammed red-state leaders like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and painted California as a progressive bastion. He touted some of his biggest accomplishments, like enshrining reproductive rights in the state’s constitution and setting ambitious climate goals. He also acknowledged some darker chapters of the state’s story, like Japanese internment during World War II and unmet needs around housing and homelessness.

The event provided Newsom, widely thought to have presidential ambitions, a prime opportunity to reinforce his image as an outspoken opponent of a GOP in thrall to its hard-right.

“They make it harder to vote and easier to buy illegal guns. They silence speech, fire teachers, kidnap migrants, subjugate women, attack the Special Olympics, and even demonize Mickey Mouse,” he said about conservative leaders like DeSantis. “All camouflaged under a hijacking of the word ‘freedom.’”

He also struck a personal tone, weaving into the speech the origin story of his own immigrant family and how California became, as it did for millions of others, home.

More than a century ago, Newsom said his great-great-grandparents immigrated from Ireland and planted roots in a working-class Irish neighborhood of San Francisco. William Newsom, the first, later became a beat cop in the city.

“The journey from policeman to politician took 150 years,” he said. “I hear the echoes of my own family’s story in those who are still coming to California to pursue their dreams, drawn by the myth and magic of this place.”

A small handful of protesters stood outside the event’s security perimeter while at least one slipped into the crowd before being escorted out. As Newsom was sworn in, the demonstrator walked up the aisle toward the stage and held a sign that read ‘Ron DeSantis for President 2024.’

Newsom starts second term with anticipated budget problem

Although his remarks were framed much like his first inaugural speech in 2019, Newsom enters his second term under dramatically different financial circumstances.

When he first took office, California was swimming in money after a decade of economic expansion. Next week he is scheduled to unveil his budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year — a plan that will likely need to address a projected multi-billion-dollar budget deficit.

In November California’s Legislative Analyst Gabe Petek, forecast a $24 billion shortfall in the 2023-24 budget, a gap that could jeopardize funding for transportation projects, school improvements and homeless initiatives. It’s not known whether the governor will concur with that gloomy prediction, and if so, how he recommends that the state address it.

Newsom did not unveil any new or revelatory policy ideas but promoted his proposed price-gouging penalty on oil companies.

California Republican leaders jumped at the chance to speak out against the governor and raise doubts about the progress that would be made in his second term.

“If Gavin Newsom’s first four years as governor are any indication of what’s to come, Californians are in for a rough ride,” California Republican Party Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson said in a statement. “Whether lecturing red states, plotting a laughable White House run, or making the rounds on cable news, the only lesson he’s actually teaching the nation is how to move your state in the wrong direction.”

Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher said in a statement that given the state’s expected fiscal shortfall, that he expected problems like homelessness, water shortages and student academic success to only worsen “unless the governor changes course.”

This story was originally published January 6, 2023 at 12:42 PM.