Newsom's fire response under microscope amid presidential speculation
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is in the spotlight as multiple wildfires tear through the Los Angeles area, putting his response under a microscope amid speculation over his political ambitions.
On Tuesday, Newsom declared a state of emergency as the fires raged in the southern part of the state. The governor has come under heavy criticism from President-elect Trump, who called on him to resign over his handling of the wildfires on Thursday.
The developments come as Newsom is increasingly seen as one of the Democrats on the frontline responding to the incoming Trump administration, as well as a likely 2028 presidential contender.
“I can imagine that his team would probably wish if they had their way of course they would wish that this was not happening at this time,” said former California Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D). “It makes launching any type of national campaign a very difficult thing to do.”
The president-elect hit Newsom on Wednesday for not signing a declaration to pump more water through the state to prevent the fires. Newsom’s team denied the existence of the document.
“There is no such document as the water restoration declaration — that is pure fiction,” said Newsom’s communication director Izzy Garden. “The governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.”
Newsom’s team noted that prior to the fire’s outbreak earlier this week, the governor ordered the prepositioning of assets, including 65 local government fire engines, seven water tenders, seven helicopters, nine dozers and over 105 specialized personnel through the state’s fire and rescue mutual aid system.
Still, there are questions as to whether local officials and state officials were prepared for multiple large-scale fires and whether more preventative measures could have been taken.
“Whenever a region is unprepared, of course it is the people in power who bear some of the blame for that lack of preparedness,” Gatto said.
And Newsom by no means is the only California official facing criticism. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) has come under sharp scrutiny for being on an official diplomatic trip to Ghana, as part of a U.S. delegation for the country’s presidential inauguration, when the wildfires hit.
On her way back to Los Angeles, Bass appeared to ignore a reporter’s questions on criticism about her absence and the city’s handling of the crisis, per footage shared by The Associated Press.
But she defended herself in a press conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
“I was on the phone on the plane almost every hour of the flight. So although I wasn’t physically here, I was in contact with many of the individuals that are standing here throughout the entire time,” Bass said. She also noted that she’s been in touch with President Biden and other national partners.
Bass has also come under scrutiny for approving a budget reduction to the LA City Fire Department ahead of the fires.
Last month, the LA City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley warned in a memo reported by NBC Los Angeles that the move to cut the department’s budget by almost $18 million “has severely limited” the department’s capacity to prepare for “large scale emergencies, including wildfires.”
Bass said on Wednesday that she was “confident” the assessment did not affect the city’s response and noted that “within this fiscal year, LAFD actually would go above what was allocated on July 1st.”
Other state and local officials across the board are beginning to face questions as well, including the California insurance commissioner, a position that’s up for election in the midterms. Weeks before the fires, current Commissioner Ricardo Lara described the state as being in an “insurance crisis.”
“The idea that there was, from what we can tell, largely a lack of preparation is criminal and heads should f—–g roll for how f—–g criminal it was,” Gatto said.
Put together, the logistical hurdles of dealing with the home front crisis and the sharp criticism on the national stage “highlights and exposes a vulnerability that Democrats have, when Democrats are still trying to find their footing and their message in the wake of what happened last November,” said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University in California.
“The politics of this moment challenge Mayor Bass. They challenge Gov. Newsom. But because Democrats dominate the state, it also provides an opening for their political rivals and their political opponents to highlight California not as the epitome of the American dream, but as the loss of American hope,” McCuan said.
Others have defended figures like Newsom and Bass, citing the unique catastrophic nature of the wildfires.
“This is a level of something that we’ve never seen before as far as the amount of property destruction that is occurring and there are multiple fires happening,” said Joe Salas, a Democratic National Committee member based in southern California.
“The government is responding based off of other situations that have happened in the past and this is a new level of a natural disaster.”
Newsom, an outspoken Trump critic and attack dog for Democrats, has become a GOP target over issues like crime and immigration — as has his state, a liberal bastion on the West Coast that’s expected to be ground zero for resistance to a second Trump term.
And Newsom has long been suspected of national ambitions. He was floated as a potential contender to replace Biden as the party’s nominee in 2024, and then was named in “veepstakes” chatter about who would join Vice President Harris. He’s term-limited in California and will leave the governor’s mansion in 2026.
Now, he’s among several Democratic governors who have been speculated as possible 2028 candidates, along with Govs. Gretchen Whitmer (Mich.) and Josh Shapiro (Pa.).
An Emerson College poll taken just after the 2024 election found Newsom in second place behind Harris, ahead of several fellow governors, in a hypothetical 2028 test — though he notably trailed Harris by double digits. At the same time, Harris has seen positive early polling as a potential contender to replace Newsom in the 2026 governor’s race.
Newsom “is going to have to learn to live with criticism from all sides, because every move that he makes, well intended or not, is going to be criticized as one that’s seeking to advance his own interests,” McCuan said, noting that “it’s very clear that the governor has been running for president while not running for president.”
Perhaps given Newsom’s national profile, Trump “loves to pick a fight” with him, said California-based Democratic strategist Kate Maeder. But Californians “are tired of politicians scoring petty political points.”
“To us in California, this is more about the grim realities of our changing climate,” she said.
Fire hydrants in Los Angeles failed as the fires raged, and firefighters are struggling to contain and snuff out the thousands of acres still on fire as brutal winds hit the area. The Palisades fire alone, which was uncontained as of Thursday, has scorched over 17,000 acres, according to Cal Fire. Nearly 180,000 residents are under evacuation orders, NBC News reports.
“When they built the Los Angeles infrastructure, they weren’t thinking that 100 mile-per-hour winds could devastate an entire city,” Maeder said. “I think that every city in America is re-examining their infrastructure … and we have to look at things in a new light, because the changing climate is very real.”