VIDEO: Jerry Brown says Newsom ‘smart to start early’

One day after Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom declared his candidacy for governor in 2018 – more than three years before the election – the office’s current occupant on Thursday praised Newsom’s timing.

“It’s smart to start early, I’ll tell you that,” Gov. Jerry Brown told reporters after an event in Sacramento. “It’s a big state. It takes a long time to build up your resources.”

Brown, a fourth-term Democrat, has traditionally waited much longer to get into his own campaigns, though he has not suffered from it in recent years.

The governor offered only brief remarks after a speech to students at a YMCA model Legislature and court event.

Inside, Brown called as he has before for robust action on climate change. He warned his young audience of a “point of no return” and “all sorts of devastation and catastrophes” if that issue is left unchecked. Here are those remarks: