Newsom plays politics with taxpayer-funded out-of-state ad campaign | Opinion
Gov. Gavin Newsom has advanced the art of political narcissism over the years but in his latest stunt, he may have reached his personal zenith.
In a year of budget austerity in Sacramento, the state capital our Marin-dwelling governor only now visits, the Newsom administration is planning to spend $19 million of state money on advertisements running outside of California to extol the economic greatness of the Golden State in the name of addressing “misinformation.”
This would be just another eye-rolling Newsom moment some years ago. Now it’s an abuse of his office.
The greatest value of this advertising, by any reasonable viewing, is to buttress Newsom’s coming political campaign for president. And presidential political campaigns aren’t supposed to be funded out of government budgets.
This looks even worse if one were to take this spending on advertising at face value. How is this more important than, say, funding health care or housing or education or transportation?
As detailed by The Bee’s Lia Russell, the administration is seeking private sector consultants to implement a proposed “California Brand Campaign.” The directive is to come up with messaging to “highlight California’s economic dominance and innovative spirit,” and “showcase its vibrant, diverse business community” while reminding people that “California is a world-class place for business investment, relocation, and expansion.”
All this is necessary, according to the proposal, to address “misinformation and political rhetoric.”
This idea is coming out of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, or Go Biz. It is perfectly reasonable for this office to look beyond the borders of the state. But this feels like an example of how an administration tends to take on the personality of its leader. This campaign mirrors how Newsom has seemed incapable of discussing our state’s many shortcomings in a straightforward way.
The governor was a carbon copy of this so-called California Brand Campaign in a recent interview with CNN’s Dana Bash.
She valiantly attempted to get Newsom to address a California issue, affordability.
“California has the highest cost of living in the nation,” Bash said to Newsom. “The state’s prices are 11% higher than the national average.”
Newsom didn’t want to dwell on affordability. Instead, his comments were on the positive side of California’s proverbial economic coin.
“We’ve had hundreds of thousands of people move (into) California the last two, three years,” he said. “As you know, we’ve moved from the sixth to the fourth-largest economy in the world. And we dominate now in every key industry from AI, quantum robotics.”
It’s not misinformation to say that Newsom has simply fallen way short on metrics he set for himself as he ran for his current job in 2018. His quest for universal health care, for example, went quickly out the door. Instead of building 3.5 million homes as he once pledged, he will not come close to a third of that goal.
Meanwhile, on the minds of most Californians are issues like the cost of living and the state’s financial picture. So is homelessness. Don’t expect to hear much about this in the coming California Brand Campaign.
There is simply no way for this administration to air pro-California advertising in other states without many viewers feeling that Newsom is behind it. Polls have him as a strong and early contender for the Democratic nomination for president in 2028. He is busy promoting a book about himself. It won’t matter if Newsom’s name isn’t mentioned in any spot. For many of the nation, Newsom personifies California.
Newsom would better serve his state and his political future by keeping a laser focus here in Sacramento on the real unfinished business and leaving it to the next administration to figure out when, how and where to toot the state’s horn.
This story was originally published March 13, 2026 at 5:00 AM.