Rampant drug abuse and crime have caused growing concern in San Francisco, with the policies in the city being questioned weekly. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has enlisted a massive number of resources and time into assisting the city he once ran, efforts that set him up to be the future of the Democratic Party.
“I feel like I’m being pulled back to being mayor,” Newsom said in an interview with Politico.
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The synthetic opioid fentanyl is at the center of the city’s troubles, an epidemic that has been driven by open-air drug markets and dealings in crime-ridden neighborhoods like the Tenderloin, which comprise over half the drugs seized in the whole city.
San Francisco leaders continue to struggle to contain the city’s opioid crisis, and Mayor London Breed has enlisted Newsom, along with larger federal assistance in an effort to combat the drugs plaguing the streets.
Earlier this year, Breed supported Newsom in deploying the National Guard to San Francisco to tackle fentanyl trafficking. The large-scale operation is a joint effort with multiple agencies, including the California Highway Patrol, who Newsom said he’ll double the number of agents in the city.
“I am mindful of the critics — and I’m one of them — that we can be doing more and better in myriad areas,” Newsom said. “I’m mindful that as governor, I can’t do it all. But I’m also mindful that the buck stops here. And I’m ultimately going to be held to account.”
Newsom is briefed frequently on the state of the city, from business closures and job rates to murder and crime numbers, San Francisco has become a staple of the governor’s agenda, per Politico.
His core group of political allies and connections largely hail from San Francisco, from state officials to congressional representatives.
Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who served in the city’s role from 1996 to 2004, is considered a mentor to Newsom, and their families share close ties. During Brown’s first tenure, he appointed Newsom’s father as a judge.
Jim Wunderman, chief executive of the Bay Area Council, has collaborated with Newsom for years, sharing similar sentiments on transit issues in the city. Wunderman has been appointed and reappointed by Newsom to the Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority Board of Directors over the years.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is a longtime ally of the California governor, and she has a distant family connection to Newsom, whose aunt was once married to Pelosi’s brother-in-law.
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His time as governor of California and mayor of San Francisco offers some insight into what a Newsom presidential administration could look like. However, he’s given multiple statements that he won’t be making a run for the White House in 2024.
Newsom has become somewhat of an attack dog for President Joe Biden, taking on some of the president’s biggest opponents, such as Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) by defending the administration’s immigration and economic policies.
