Sacramento, California– California Gov. Gavin Newsom will deliver his final State of the State address to lawmakers Thursday in Sacramento, where he is expected to lay out his priorities for his final year in office as he eyes a run for president in 2028.
Newsom, a Democrat, is mindful of his legacy as he moves toward ending his eight-year term in the nation’s most populous state, a position that often puts him at direct odds with Republican President Donald Trump.
Over the years, he has used his statehood to promote economic growth and technological innovation in California and defend the state against criticism of its high cost of living and largest homeless population in the country. He attacked Trump and warned that his administration would threaten the nation’s progressive policies.
This year’s speech comes a day after the country celebrated its first anniversary Devastating fires in the Los Angeles area The fire raged, destroying neighborhoods and killing 31 people.
In the months since, Newsom has asked Congress and Trump to do so Billions of dollars in financing To help the region recover from the fires, which are among the most destructive in the country’s history. Trump did not return that call — one of many disagreements between him and the governor during his first year in office.
The two have bickered about everything starting with Trump Deployment of National Guard forces In Los Angeles to Blocking the federal government California is the number one state in the country Ban the sale of new gas-powered cars By 2035.
The state has sued the Trump administration more than 50 times, and Newsom called Trump a threat to democracy, leading to… Redistricting battle to Improving Democrats’ chances To win control of the House of Representatives in this year’s midterm elections.
“I don’t trust him one bit,” Newsom said in a recent interview on MS NOW, adding that on January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters Storming of the US Capitol buildingThe president “tried to set democracy on fire.”
Christopher Whitko, executive director of the UCLA Sacramento Center, which trains students for careers in public policy, said it would be surprising if Newsom did not mention Trump in his final State of the State address before his potential presidential run.
“He would talk about Trump as a threat and maybe how he was countering him,” Witko said. “It will be an audience of people in the state, but an audience of Democrats out of state as well.”
Newsom is also expected to talk about what he wants to do with the rest of his second term. The governor has spent the past seven years trying to solve some of California’s most difficult cases, including California state corruption Effects of climate changethe Homelessness crisis in the countryand her High gas and utility prices.
On Friday, he is scheduled to unveil his proposed budget for the next fiscal year Years facingBudget deficit.
This is the first time Newsom has delivered the state of the state to lawmakers in person since 2022. He said he doesn’t like formal speeches because He has dyslexia Makes it difficult to read from a teleprompter in live time.
Instead, he submitted a written address to lawmakers in the years that followed, fulfilling the constitutional requirement to report to the legislature in some form.
He also tried other methods that broke with tradition, including publishing a dossier Pre-recorded speech online and Touring the country To announce policies aimed at addressing homelessness and mental health crises.
Under the state constitution, Newsom is barred from running for a third term.