Governor Gavin Newsom is the current Democratic front runner for president in 2028, but how does he run away from his abysmal record in the once-Golden State?

He’s been irked during his book tour by being peppered with questions about California’s $17.7 billion budget shortfall, along with scandals ranging from Medicaid fraud to homeless funding.

So what’s his response? His Office of Business and Economic Development is now seeking bids for a $19 million ad campaign that would fight “negative narratives amplified online and in partisan media” about his real record as governor. He wants to “set the record straight.”

So here we have a bankrupt state spending taxpayer dollars on political messaging.  How is that even legal?

Newsom’s spin doctors will have a tough time combatting the “negative narratives” because they are clearly true. No state has lost more people over the last decade (more than 2 million). It lost another 200,000 taxpayers in 2023 according to the new IRS tax return data.

Maybe that’s because California ranks 48th out of 50 on state tax competitiveness.