Gavin Newsom is looking ahead to 2028. He hungers for the presidency as a wolf hungers for a sheep; he's already starting to take steps to ramp up his national presence, and it's looking like a near-certainty that he'll be a candidate. Honestly, the Dems would do better even with the perfectly-coiffed California governor than with the AOC/Crockett "Dream Team" some idiots are talking up. (Republicans everywhere should be delighted if the Democrats were that stupid.)
The trouble is, Governor Newsom has one big obstacle to overcome: Himself. San Francisco disintegrated into chaos during Newsom's tenure as mayor. California continued its downward slide during his governorship. Any Republican opponent, be it JD Vance, Ron DeSantis, or anyone else, will hang Gavin "A Little Dab'll Do Ya" Newsom's track record around his neck like an albatross, especially when it comes to energy prices. Energy policy may be the thing that hurts him the most. Californians are paying ridiculous prices to fill up their cars, to heat and cool their homes, and California's Democrats are to blame for it.
The thing is, Newsom isn't alone among Democrats in having this problem. Nationally, Democrats are starting to look at costs in their blue states for gas and home heating/cooling, and worrying, starting in California, where Governor Newsom is actually trying to talk energy producers out of abandoning the once-Golden State.
The oil industry is having an I-told-you-so moment in California.
For decades, the state has raced to end its reliance on fossil fuels and prioritize clean energy. Its relationship with oil companies became particularly contentious in the past two years, as Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislators held two special sessions to crack down on alleged price gouging at the pump.
But now two of its last remaining fuel refineries are closing sooner than California expected, tossing a simmering emergency into officials’ laps. With a hotly debated forecast that $8-per-gallon gasoline might be on the horizon, there has been a remarkable shift at the state Capitol. Led by Newsom, who just last fall was lambasting oil companies for “screwing” consumers, California may soon let its black gold flow again.
This is something of a turnaround for the Democrat supermajority in California, but it may be a case of too little, too late.
Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders are now negotiating a plan with the industry to boost stagnating production in California’s oil-drilling hub of Kern County — and avert a nightmare scenario for a governor with national ambitions and a party that has promised to focus on affordability. Lawmakers could pass a measure before the end of their annual session in mid-September, though the details remain unsettled and environmental groups are raising alarms.
The alarms, of course, are the worst possible alarms Democrats ever face: The chances of losing elections. Their "green energy" policies and climate panic-mongering have driven energy prices through the roof, most especially in blue states, and the next couple of election cycles may show the frustration of consumers. This is, after all, an issue that is continually in our faces, every time we pay our utility bills, every time we stop to buy gas.
Read More: Is Climate Science Now the Law? Not Here in the US, It Isn't.
Climate Catastrophist Sees the Light - After a Look at the Fundamentals
This isn't an issue limited to California.
Sometimes you can’t help but marvel at how much we’re all willing to pay for the illusion of “green progress.” New Jersey decided—like half the country—that climate purity would be achieved by wind turbines, solar panels, and endless press conferences declaring victory against bad old fossil fuels. But someone forgot to run the numbers, and now the bill arrives, with a little note attached: “Due immediately. No refunds. See: your monthly utility statement.”
It isn't, of course, how much we're willing to pay. It's how much Democrats in the various state legislatures are willing to make us pay. And that answer appears to be "a lot."
Now for years, the (Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection) PJM auction price for “guaranteed” power—the kind that keeps your lights on after sunset—hovered around $29.92 per megawatt-day. That number just jackknifed straight through sanity’s guardrails and into $329.17/MW-day for 2026. That is a tenfold hike.
I'd like to think this will cost Democratic office holders a lot, but nobody ever went broke underestimating the American voters - especially in places like California and New Jersey.
We may see some of this tide turning, though, and here's why. The Trump administration's "all of the above" approach to energy is only now making some effect felt, but that effect is lowering costs. That's not surprising, even though it will be some time before production increases actually hit the market. Commodity prices are generally driven by prognostication, by what's expected to happen shortly, and soon, production will be increasing. The effect is already being felt and will continue to be felt. That's good for American consumers. But the rub is that it may actually shield blue state Democrats from some of the blowback for their disastrous energy policies.
That's an interesting spot for the GOP to be in.
It's hard to see an issue for the 2026 and 2028 elections that carries more impact than energy policy. It's hard to see an issue in which the lines are more clearly drawn than in energy policy. The Republicans are in favor of policies that increase production and reduce prices of reliable, inexpensive energy. The Democrats favor policies that reduce production, raise prices, and produce unreliable, intermittent energy. And energy is at the heart of the economy; it is the one issue that affects everything we do, every economic decision we make.
In the next few election cycles, Republican candidates at every level would do well to hammer this message home at every opportunity. Bring numbers. Point out the effect of Democratic policies on energy prices. Point out their hypocrisy when pols like Gavin Newsom suddenly go hat in hand to the oil companies to save them from their policies. The GOP could do a lot worse than to simply run ads showing gas prices in places like Los Angeles.
That, folks, is a winning message.
