San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said Thursday that his Republican opponent in the lieutenant governor’s race offered only politics as usual and that a fresh set of ideas was needed in the state’s No. 2 post.
“Abel Maldonado has been in Sacramento for 12 years. He personifies the status quo,” Newsom, a Democrat, said during the first face-to-face meeting of the candidates, in Sunnyvale. “My candidacy offers the only hope for fundamental change.”
Maldonado, who was appointed lieutenant governor earlier this year after a long run in the Legislature, shot back that his time in office had been spent as a reformer trying to break gridlock.
“California is sick and tired of partisanship,” he said. “I’ve used the bully pulpit to bring everybody together.”
Thursday’s debate, sponsored by the nonpartisan Silicon Valley Leadership Group, was a mostly cordial affair, with the candidates repeating many of the talking points of the campaign trail.
The debate was hosted by tech company NetApp and moderated by Carl Guardino, president and CEO of Silicon Valley Leadership Group, and Mac Tully, president and publisher of the Mercury News.
The two candidates, both 42 years old and rising stars on California’s political stage, offer stark contrasts.
Newsom, a one-time small-business owner who has pushed an ambitious agenda as mayor, is a Bay Area liberal known for his strong and sometimes polarizing environmental and social stances, such as marrying same-sex couples at City Hall.
Maldonado is a moderate from California’s rural Central Coast, where he worked in the agriculture industry alongside immigrant parents. While socially conservative, Maldonado has butted heads with the Republican establishment for supporting Democrats in areas such as taxes and education.
The job at stake is largely ceremonial but offers each a potential bump in profile.
The most heated exchanges in Thursday’s debate came when the two sought to position themselves in the political middle and cast their opponent on the fringe, namely on issues of immigration and gay rights.
“Abel, I don’t mean to take a shot, but to not stand up for the rights of domestic partnership? “… I’m not even talking about gay marriage here,” Newsom said.
Maldonado, who opposes same-sex marriage, criticized Newsom for going too far to placate the gay community. He took issue with Newsom’s 2004 order authorizing the San Francisco city clerk to issue marriage licenses to gay couples in defiance of state law.
“My opponent said one time, ‘With a piece of paper and a pen and an executive order, I can do whatever I want,’ ” Maldonado said.
Maldonado, in another attempt to portray his opponent as too far left, took aim at San Francisco’s sanctuary-city policy, under which police are prevented from asking detainees their immigration status.
“They let convicted illegal aliens out on the street that eventually murdered three people in that city,” Maldonado said, referring to a triple homicide committed by an undocumented immigrant.
Newsom, in turn, said Maldonado, who has called for “comprehensive immigration reform,” would deny California the ethnic diversity that has helped the state flourish.
“I don’t want to cede the immigration debate to Arizona,” Newsom said, referring to that state’s strict and controversial immigration law. “Immigration is the strength of this region. It’s the backbone of the state.”
Polls show that Newsom holds a lead over Maldonado in the race, though the most recent Field Poll, taken last month, indicates that the margin has narrowed to four points.
Political observers say moving toward the middle is key to picking up more votes and winning the election.
“They both need to show that they stand out from the pack of other people in their party,” said Thad Kousser, associate professor of political science at UC San Diego. “Abel Maldonado needs to show that he’s not just another Republican, but in the middle. Gavin Newsom needs to remind people in this blue state that he is a Democrat and not left of the party.”
Both said Thursday that creating jobs and improving California’s education system would be top priorities if elected.
The lieutenant governor, though, has only so much power.
The job involves filling in while the governor is away, as well as serving on a handful of state commissions.
“In some ways, the job is what you make of it,” Kousser said. “I think both candidates would remain in the public eye if they make it. They’re young, they’re charismatic, and they’re not your run-of-the-mill politicians. Neither is fooling himself with his ambition.”