Having placed second in the nonpartisan primary election for Governor of California which was held on June 7, 2022, State Representative Brian Dahle will be going up against Incumbent Governor Gavin Newsom in the general election. The conclusive part of the electioneering process is slated to hold on November 8, 2022. Now, with a seemingly competent incumbent in place, many would naturally wonder why they should ever cast their vote for the new guy. Yet, Gavin Newsom is undoubtedly the best hope of the state, especially with the kind of trials that California is on course to face in the near future.

This is a bold claim and it deserves justification. So, here are some crucial points you might want to ruminate on as D-day approaches in the midterm election year.

The first of these is the alarming rate of homelessness in the state. For clarity, it would be the height of disingenuity to lay the homelessness crisis solely at the feet of the incumbent governor as the state has always struggled with this issue. If anything, what that points at is that the line of thinking of all the governors before Newsom placed the interests of the people a distant second to their selfish desires. Otherwise, things wouldn’t be so dire.

One thing that can be conclusively stated is that, during the good governor’s administration, California has come to host a whopping 30% of the entire homeless population of the entire country! According to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, California boasts over 8, 000 homeless families and more than 200, 000 homeless students.

Now, if the governor cannot be faulted for the situation, he can most certainly be blamed for his response. Rather than actually identify tangible and sustainable ways to address this problem, Newsom chose to follow the path of his predecessors; throw taxpayers' money at the problem and hope it goes away. He does go one step further than those before him though.

Clearly nursing presidential ambitions, Newson has been grandstanding like there’s no tomorrow. As the problem of the homeless in his state doesn’t cause him sleepless nights, he has taken to swaggering about politically, even going as far as challenging Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida to a debate recently. On a side note, Florida has its issues but at least the governor has taken steps to care for the homeless among them. At the moment, just under 2, 300 families are homeless there.

Brian Dahle on the other hand is offering more practical solutions. He sees that Newsom is only wasting billions of dollars and not even making an effort to address the underlying causes of these problems. That’s why, as governor of the state, Dahle intends to audit homelessness programs extensively to see where things are going wrong. Similarly, he plans to offer more incentives for the mentally ill and drug users to get treatment when provided accommodations. He also wants to see fewer construction limits and accelerate the construction of affordable housing for all.

The same pattern presents itself with the incumbent governor’s approach to tackling crime. Newsom has been so lax on the issue that many would argue that he’s almost encouraging illegal activities. Criminals are certainly having a field day in the state as Crime Grade gives California a solid “F” rating when it comes to just how safe it is here. They discovered that, on average, a crime occurs every 15 seconds in the state. Literally 79% of America is safer than California currently.

And what is the governor doing again?

Actively pretending that all’s well in the kingdom. That would actually be surprising if it wasn’t so typical of him. Anything that doesn’t get “national” recognition takes a backseat in his book, even if lives and properties are lost as a result.

Dahle will not be that kind of governor. In an interview held in October 2022 with FOX40, he said, “(On crime), I would make sure people who are repeat offenders— as governor, I will make sure they serve out their time and they’re not on our streets victimizing Californians.” That’s the least a leader who puts his people first should do.

Newsom has stayed true to his pattern of hypocrisy on the issue of climate change as well. The recent policies he signed into law might make sense on paper but he’s essentially costing taxpayers nearly $40 billion. What’s worse, by handicapping us in the energy sector, he has not only effectively driven up the price of gas, but he has essentially increased the nation’s dependence on the oil imported from countries like Russia and Ecuador – places that aren’t famous for implementing strict environmental safeguards in this matter. As such, whatever carbon emissions we manage to cut off here will simply be replenished in those other countries and will eventually still get to us anyway, making Newsom’s approach an exercise in futility.

Again, Dahle employs a simple common sense approach here. Rather than compromising the safety of the country by creating an energy crisis, he’s saying we should be more invested in preventing accidents like wildfires which produce far more carbon emissions. He’s advocating that California continues to drill for oil and invest in renewable energy such that when the time to finally transition from the former to the latter comes, it’s seamless and painless for all involved.

This is the kind of governor it makes sense to have. Dahle is a person who sees California as more than just a platform to launch a greater personal ambition. He sees the people and empathizes with the pain. He wants to save California from a fate of receiving less from its leadership and considering that normal.

That’s why he’s on the ballot. That’s why he deserves our votes.

Dahle truly will restore California. All he needs is a chance to do so.

Let’s give him that chance.

Let’s vote Dahle for Governor of California!