Zócalo's Connecting California
A (campaign) tale of two cities
The governor’s race could come down to a question of which major California city voters disdain less.
By Joe Mathews • • 5m ListenL.A. has historically been the city that non-Angeleno Californians love to hate. With its sprawl, smog and Hollywood glitz, the city of Angels is an easy target. But now San Francisco may be usurping L.A. as the object of popular derision. With its invasive tech companies, shocking juxtaposition of wealth and poverty and dominance of statewide politics, Zocalo Public Square columnist Joe Mathews says San Francisco has evolved into something of a bully. As it happens, the two leading candidates for California governor – Lt. Gov. and former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa – embody some of the characteristics and clichés associated with their respective cities. For better or worse, Mathews says the candidates’ home towns will provide a subtext for the governor’s race.