California Is a Right-Wing Punching Bag. Its Politicians Are Ready to Punch Back

After years of being bashed in conservative media and politics, California politicians are on the offensive this election cycle — and relishing the opportunity to talk up the Golden State as one of their own runs for president.

They may have to do so without the candidate’s help, however: Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign and national Democrats seem happy to tamp down most direct mentions of the lightning rod of a state.

California, and the Bay Area in particular, have long been held up by the right wing as a dystopic example of progressive failures. But at last week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, some of its leading Democrats were eager to make their case for why that characterization is wrong.

Mayor London Breed, a longtime friend of Harris, was on a dual mission: support Harris and champion San Francisco. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has lived something of a parallel political life to Harris, declined an official speaking slot at the convention but spent much of its final days running around the United Center speaking to mainstream and right-wing media alike.

And Sen. Laphonza Butler, who was appointed by Newsom last year to the seat long held by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, told KQED’s Political Breakdown that her story of California is a universal one.

“I start by telling a great story of California’s great diversity,” she said, noting that it’s not just ethnic and racial diversity. “We are cities and towns and suburbs and rural communities, and we’re a border state. And we have challenges of wildfires, challenges of earthquakes.

“We are right on the Pacific Ocean, and we have beautiful beaches that are being eroded every day.”

That means California has things in common with places like Iowa, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Florida, Butler said.

“Our farmers are trying to find ways to make sure that they are able to water their cattle or their crops,” she continued. “That is true for Iowa. And Kansas. And so, to me, it is helping people to connect with the part of California that means something to them that they just don’t know about yet.”

California’s moment in the spotlight at the DNC came Tuesday night, during the roll call on the convention floor where each state called out the number of delegates it was pledging to Harris.

As is customary, the nominee’s home state cast the votes — led by Newsom, who was bursting with California pride — that put Harris over the top for the nomination.

“We are a state of dreamers and doers, of entrepreneurs and innovators, that pride themselves on being on the cutting edge of new ideas,” Newsom said to cheers. “California’s the most diverse state, in the world’s most diverse democracy. And we pride ourselves on our ability to live together and band together and prosper together across every conceivable and imaginable difference. But the thing we pride ourselves most on is that we believe the future happens in California first.”

Harris name-checked California twice in her speech. She has studiously avoided direct references to Berkeley, where she was born, but she spoke warmly of her time growing up in a working-class community in the East Bay.

“In the Bay, you either live in the hills or the flatlands. We lived in the flats. A beautiful, working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses and construction workers. All who tended their lawns with pride,” she told the convention hall Thursday night as she accepted the nomination.

Harris noted that her single mother worked long hours, relying on her “trusted circle” to help raise her daughters.

“None of them family by blood, and all of them family by love,” she said. “Family who taught us how to make gumbo, how to play chess — and sometimes even let us win. Family who loved us, believed in us and told us we could be anything and do anything. They instilled in us the values they personified — community, faith and the importance of treating others as you would want to be treated. With kindness, respect and compassion.”

While Harris sought to tie her upbringing to a broader American story that can resonate in swing states and with persuadable voters, Breed leaned into San Francisco’s uniqueness. She had some help from a wealthy Bay Area entrepreneur.

Chris Larsen, the billionaire founder of financial tech company Ripple, hosted a private event billed to celebrate San Francisco at the nightclub Tao Chicago. Invitations proclaimed it a “Night of technology and truth” featuring a surprise performance by The Killers along with remarks by Breed.

“We know that Trump is going to be attacking the city to attack Kamala unfairly,” Larsen told KQED before the event. “And we don’t want to let him get away with that because the city is actually on the upswing. We can’t let that narrative get away from us.”

Larsen and Breed emphasized San Francisco’s declining crime rate and its status as a hub of tech innovation. Speaking as the crowd sipped sparkling wine and ate sushi, Breed played the role of cheerleader for the city.

“In this moment in time, it is so critical that we talk about the truth about San Francisco ‘cause you know the Republicans are trying to turn San Francisco into something it’s not,” she said. “They’re trying to turn San Francisco into a bad word, yet everything that gets created, all the innovation, happens in San Francisco.”

Breed went on to list all the companies with ties to the city by the Bay:

“They pull out their iPhones, produced in the Bay Area and introduced in San Francisco, to call their Uber or Lyft, companies based in San Francisco,” she said. “And while they are riding to their Airbnb, a company in San Francisco, they’re tweeting bad things about our city, in a company that until recently was based in San Francisco,” she said to laughs.

A relaxed and energetic Breed also declared San Francisco “the AI capital of the world — because I say so.”

Asked earlier that day why so much political talent comes out of the city, Breed had this zinger: “Because we’re San Francisco. That’s why everyone tries to come for us because we’re one of the most amazing cities anywhere in the world.”

Newsom, who got his start in politics in San Francisco on a traffic commission, said it’s no surprise that the city produced a political star like Harris, whose first elected office was district attorney of San Francisco.

But it’s not just the successes of a city like San Francisco or a state like California that push its leaders to be bold, Newsom said. It’s also the challenges, like the desperation of HIV and AIDS or the homelessness crisis he’s been working to solve his whole career. So, while others are talking up California’s failures, he said he will be acknowledging them — and pushing for the next solution.

“I think what’s in the DNA is sort of an established expectation of staying on leading, the cutting edge — there’s no grace for not being ahead of the curve. Looking around the corner, iterating, taking risks, doing the next thing,” he said. “The mind gets stretched, and it never goes back to its original form. And then you always look beyond that.”