John Phillips: Matt Mahan is the anti-Gavin Newsom

It’s official: San Jose’s dynamic Democratic Mayor, Matt Mahan, will be on this June’s primary ballot as a candidate for California governor.

Mahan’s campaign plans are quite unusual for a California Democrat:  He’s running on his record.

In a recent post on X, Mahan said that he “reduced unsheltered homelessness by nearly 1/3rd after a decade of growth. We were rated the safest big city in America last year for the first time in over 20 years. We’re the only city to have solved 100% of homicides nearly 4 years running. And we’re taking on affordability with urgency and honesty — unlocking thousands of housing units in the past couple years.”

California could certainly use a dose of that.

In contrast to the other Democratic candidates in the race, Mahan wants to focus less on Washington, D.C. and more on fixing California. You know, like a governor of a state normally would.

In the same post on X, Mahan laid out his strategy.  “We don’t just need to be against something. We need to be for something — a government that proves it can solve problems for working people again.  And before we ask Californians to give more, we owe them proof that their government can do better.  So I’m running to bring focus back to government. To give cities the tools they need to succeed. To show that the best resistance to division is results.  And to prove that California can work again — for everyone,” he explained.

Music to my ears.

Unlike other Democrats, Mahan is acknowledging the obvious — that California is badly broken, and thus needs to “work again.”

Which leads to the question, if California needs fixing…then who broke it?

The three-part answer, of course, is (A) Gavin Newsom, (B) the Democrat supermajority in the state legislature and (C) their likeminded comrades who came before them.

This inference did not go unnoticed by Newsom.

When asked about Mahan jumping in the race after a Bloomberg newsmakers event in San Francisco, Newsom dismissively stated, “I don’t know enough about him. I wish him good luck.”

When asked a follow-up question as to whether Mahan had done a good job as mayor of San Jose, Newsom went all Katie Porter on the guy, refusing to even answer.

Newsom can’t stand him because Mahan is the anti-Newsom.

Newsom’s hallmark as a politician has been all about big, grandiose proclamations, followed by bullet-train-like results.  In other words, zero follow through.

“Homelessness will be fixed in San Francisco in 10 years!”

Newsom said that in…2003.

In 2020, Newsom led Black Californians to believe they would be receiving reparations.

Gotten your check in the mail yet?

In 2024, Newsom signed legislation that would allow licensed Arizona abortion providers to register and receive a temporary authorization to provide abortion and related care exclusively to Arizona patients traveling to California.

Not one took him up on it.  Not one.  Newsom’s out-of-state abortion plan turned out to be totally not viable.

If Newsom were any more of a flake he’d be in the cereal aisle with Tony the Tiger on the box.

Meanwhile, on Newsom’s watch, the homeless population has exploded, we can’t buy home owner’s insurance any more,  shampoo is locked up behind bullet proof glass at CVS, and people are fleeing the state faster than ticket holders at a WNBA game.

Oh, and Pacific Palisades burned to the ground while governor Nero fiddled with his hair.

Our narcissistic, absentee landlord governor ignores the basics, while chasing national headlines to feed his never-ending appetite for attention.

Newsom lusts for the World Series, while Mahan focuses on the fundamentals of throwing the ball, catching the ball, and hitting the ball.

That’s how the game is played, governor.

The gamble for Mahan is that while his pitch appeals to people like me, does it resonate with Democratic voters?

Right now, Mahan’s opponents on team blue think the top three issues for Democratic primary voters are:

1) Orange man bad.

2) Orange man bad.

3) Orange man bad/Climate change (TIE).

If that’s all they care about, who cares if the state is on fire? That’s an irrelevant distraction!

At an absolute minimum, candidate Mahan’s presence on the debate stage will force the other candidates to at least acknowledge issues that Californians care about.

Buckle up, or maybe I should say, check your air bags — this race just got a lot more fun!

John Phillips can be heard weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on “The John Phillips Show” on KABC/AM 790.