On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” POLITICO Senior Political Columnist Jonathan Martin argued that California’s gubernatorial election would be “very competitive” if it was about the state’s performance and direction, but “all Becerra is going to say is Trump, Trump, Trump, and that’s all the ads are going to be.”
Martin said, “If this was not a, I think, big Democratic year based upon Trump backlash, that race would be a lot more interesting for governor. If it was about state issues and the performance of this state and the direction of the state and you had a better, I think, GOP candidate, I think that would be a very competitive race, the most competitive it’s been here in a long time. The problem, Bill, is all politics is now national, and everything’s about Trump. It’s a one-man election [about] Donald Trump. And so, all Becerra is going to say is Trump, Trump, Trump, and that’s all the ads are going to be. If you were to litigate the actual direction of the state, it would be a competitive race. But you can’t do that in the Trump environment.”
Martin also added that if the Republican candidate was more towards the middle instead of “Trump-lite”, they would be more viable, but Republicans can’t do that because they’ll lose the party’s base.
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