Kevin Kiley scores win against longtime nemesis Gavin Newsom
Kevin Kiley won one Thursday against his nemesis Gavin Newsom. A big one.
The Republican congressman has been relentless for years in denouncing the governor. Thursday, the Senate passed three bills pushed by Kiley, R-Roseville, that overturned California’s efforts to phase out gasoline-powered vehicles.
It was arguably Kiley’s biggest triumph over his nemesis yet, one long in coming.
Four years ago, Kiley was a leader in the recall effort. He wrote a book titled “Recall Newsom: The Case against America’s Most Corrupt Governor.” Almost from the day he became a congressman in 2023, he’s made House floor speeches, blogged and tweeted about what he saw as Newsom missteps.
The Senate votes followed approval of the legislation by the House in April and May. Prior to the House votes, Kiley made it clear this was a referendum of sorts on Newsom.
“Our governor in California, Gavin Newsom, likes to say that California leads the nation and, unfortunately, President Biden enabled him to do just that,” Kiley said in a House floor speech.
After the Senate vote Thursday, Kiley again made sure constituents knew Newsom had been hurt.
“This is a very clear example of one person in this case, the governor, Gavin Newsom, issuing an order trying to dictate the choice of an automobile for millions and millions of Californians, actually tens of millions across the country,” Kiley told reporters.
A history of criticism
For Kiley, Newsom-bashing is nothing new, but it doesn’t usually have such stellar results.
Kiley was a state Assembly member, first elected in 2016. He kept a list of hundreds of laws and regulations impacted by Newsom’s executive orders during the 2020 COVID pandemic, CalMatters reported.
He became a leading figure in the 2021 effort to oust Newsom. Kiley ran for governor, winning 3.5% of the vote.
He continued to fire away at the governor, and his style and conservative views would prove attractive to Donald Trump as Kiley was embroiled in what looked like a tough Republican primary fight for Congress in 2022.
The two men met at a Trump golf course for half an hour and Trump was impressed.
“No one has fought Gavin Newsom harder than Kevin. He doesn’t wait for the fight, like the do-nothing RINOs who have watched California get absolutely destroyed by the radical maniacs in Sacramento,” Trump said at the time, using the acronym for “Republicans in name only.”
Newsom has also been a Trump nemesis. In January, as wildfires devastated the Los Angeles area, Trump said of the scene “It’s ashes, and Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!”
Kiley has been blaming Newsom for a series of ills for years. On his fourth day as a congressman in 2023, he vowed on his blog, “I will continue to do everything I can to expose Newsom’s failures, using all the new tools at my disposal to hold him accountable. Our movement for sanity in California will continue to grow.”
In December 2023, he gave a half-hour House floor speech saying California’s economy and quality of life made it “the very worst state in the country” and that Newsom was to blame.
The Julie Su controversy
On and on this has gone, and there were some victories. Kiley helped make the case against Senate confirmation of Julie Su as President Joe Biden’s Secretary of Labor.
Su had been Newsom’s Secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, responsible for overseeing the embattled state Employment Development Department during the COVID pandemic. The Senate never did confirm Su, who served as acting secretary.
This spring, Kiley focused on the electric vehicle policies. To Republicans, it seemed like a perfect way to not only overturn a favorite Democratic initiative, but make their point about government overreach.
Calling his action “a major step in our efforts to Newsom-proof California,” Kiley proposed congressional legislation to block Environmental Protection Agency regulations permitting California to bar the use of gasoline-powered vehicles, heavy trucks and diesel engines over the next decade.
Kiley has not indicated any ambitions beyond Congress. He’s chairman of the House’s early childhood, elementary and secondary education subcommittee.
Governor Kiley?
Chances are the governorship is not in Kiley’s immediate future. “California is still very blue at the statewide level, to the point where it’s hard to see any Republican winning statewide absent a lot of really bad developments for Democrats,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor at the nonpartisan Sabato’s Crystal Ball. No Republican has won statewide since 2006.
“So whatever notoriety Kiley may get, it would be hard to try to parlay that into a statewide promotion,” Kondik said.
Maybe not, said John Pitney, professor of American politics at Claremont McKenna College.
“Newsom can’t run for governor, but Kiley can,” he said.
“One good way to build cred among California Republicans is to score points against Newsom,” Pitney said. “Kiley isn’t running in 2026, but he’s only 40 years old, so he has time to wait for a more favorable election cycle.”
This story was originally published May 22, 2025 at 2:10 PM.
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