SAN FRANCISCO _ California gubernatorial front-runner Gavin Newsom on Tuesday predicted a bruising, divisive general-election campaign with $100 million spent against him if he and fellow Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa emerge as the top two winners in the June 5 primary.
"You want a race that's a ... knock-out, drag-down (between) Democrats driving down turnout? I think that's guaranteed to do that," Newsom told reporters on his campaign bus.
He was pushing back at a narrative among pundits that his campaign's efforts to boost the candidacy of Republican John Cox could ultimately hurt Democratic efforts to retake the House in the fall. The conventional wisdom is that having a Republican at the top of the ticket on the November ballot would increase GOP voter turnout, which could help vulnerable Republican members of Congress hold onto their seats.
Newsom argued the opposite, saying that having Democrats consolidate behind one candidate in the general election would do more to create unity and passion among their voters than a Democrat-on-Democrat battle.
"If you have a governor's race where you can line up the Democratic agenda and support the down-ballot ticket and unite the party, and instead of spending resources attacking one another spend those very sizable resources building a war chest ... I think that's a lot more powerful than, with all due respect, John Cox driving huge turnout," he said.
Newsom made the remarks in an 80-minute interview with reporters aboard his bus as it drove from San Francisco to San Jose. The lieutenant governor plans to crisscross the state, hitting about two dozen events in the run-up to the June 5 primary.
He kicked off the tour with a rally outside of San Francisco City Hall, pledging to grapple with poverty, economic inequality and homelessness if elected governor.
"Aristotle was right, you can't live a good life in an unjust society," he told cheering supporters. "We're here in the richest state in America and the poorest state in America. That needs to end."
Newsom noted that while California has the fifth largest economy in the world, 8 million of its residents live below the poverty line and one-quarter of the nation's homeless live in the state.
"We can do more, we can do better," he said. "It's a question of intentionality, a question of audacity, a question of courage to recognize and reconcile that we need to do more and better."
He urged supporters to not let his commanding lead in the polls lead to overconfidence.
"Let's get this done and take nothing for granted over the next seven days," said Newsom, who was accompanied by his wife, Jennifer, and the youngest of their four children.
