After two years of mask mandates, lockdowns and wildfires, Gov. Gavin Newsom has been setting a sunny, upbeat tone in recent weeks as he prepares for what looks to be a relatively easy campaign.
SAN FRANCISCO — Mask requirements have been lifted, new COVID cases have fallen dramatically, workers are returning to their offices in San Francisco. Gov. Gavin Newsom will give his annual State of the State address Tuesday amid an atmosphere of optimism and recovery.
“It’s been an extraordinary, extraordinary few years,” Newsom said Saturday during a speech to the state Democratic Endorsing Convention. “I’m telling you, I mean this with the core of my bones, the best is yet to come.” Newsom, for his part, has proposed pausing a slight increase in the state gas tax scheduled to take effect this summer. But Democratic leaders in the state Legislature have balked at that proposal, arguing it would make it harder to maintain the state’s roads while only providing a barely noticeable relief at the pump.