Stakes high for California in Trump-Harris race

Ever since California gave Hillary Clinton a vote margin of almost 3 million in 2016 – thus assuring Trump would lose the overall popular vote and become a minority president installed by the Electoral College and not the majority of voters – he’s had it in for the Golden State.

As President, Trump delayed aid for wildfire victims in California until forced to act. He tried mightily to eliminate the state’s strict smog control rules. He attempted to overrule state laws that restrict offshore oil drilling. And much more, enough that many observers saw it as a consistent Trump “War on California.”

Now it’s Californian Kamala Harris standing between Trump and a second term in the White House, one that would make him only the second U.S. president to recover from a reelection defeat and later retake the office.

The first was Grover Cleveland, who won a second term in 1888 after losing an 1884 reelection bid.

It’s pretty plain from statements by Trump and some of his family members that Californians can expect a resumption of Trump’s war on California policies and practices if he wins this fall.

The alternative is Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney, state attorney general and successor to longtime California Democrat Barbara Boxer in the Senate.

A win for her would likely mean much more for California than merely increased traffic around her presumed Western White House in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, where she lives with husband Doug Emhoff, a longtime entertainment industry lawyer.

Start with the fact that California electric taxpayers right now are “lending” more than $1 billion to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in order to keep the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Generating Station open at least five years past its prior closure date of 2030, set by state officials in 2018. The money is supposed to be repaid by the federal government.

That almost certainly would happen under a President Harris, but likely not under a reinstated President Trump.

Under Trump, federal authorities would probably reassert their effort to limit or end California’s unique authority over automotive smog, while Harris would let it stand. A Harris administration might include Gov. Gavin Newsom in a cabinet role if he wants it, elevating Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis to governor almost two years before she’s planning to run for the office anyhow. Big boost for Kounalakis.

Trump and former officials of his administration indicate in various ways they will try for a national ban on abortions, which would negate the abortion rights clause California voters inserted in the state Constitution via a successful ballot proposition. Under Harris, California’s law might serve as a national model for states to adopt if they choose.

Trump also has said he would not oppose state governments tracking pregnant women to prevent their seeking abortions. Harris would try to ban that proposed practice.

As state attorney general, Harris fostered a strong environmental unit in her office, working to head off both air and water pollution at its sources. A Harris-appointed national attorney general might set up a similar office within the Justice Department, offering strong backing to California’s toughest-in-the-nation conservation policies.

As President, Trump sought often to cut welfare and other benefits to poor Americans, including millions of Californians. A President Harris would likely try the reverse.

Trump promises to extend the wall that already covers many parts of California’s border with Mexico. It’s unclear whether Harris might expand that wall. Republicans often claim she was President Biden’s “border czar,” when in fact he placed her in charge of trying to better conditions in Latin America that foster illegal immigration. Harris might continue some of her efforts in that direction, which have not yet accomplished very much.

One thing for sure: As both senator and vice president, Harris frequently spent weekends and holidays in California. Trump never did. If Harris continued that practice, it would mark the first time since Ronald Reagan’s era that a President was intimately familiar with California’s problems and policies.

All of which makes the California stake in this fall’s election more direct that it has been since the time of Ronald Reagan.

Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com.