/ CALIFORNIA REPUBLICAN PARTY IN THE NEWS
9 DAYS LATER…
We’ve come a long way since gimmicky State of the State speeches in Dodger Stadium or rolled out over a statewide tour. It’s now been over a week since Gavin Newsom’s cancelled 2024 State of the State was supposed to take place, and there’s still no rescheduled speech. Is he ever going to do one?
Last week, we offered our own State of the State, shining a light on the many issues currently hurting California, and 9 days later, the bad news keeps coming.
Gas prices: Just yesterday, gas prices in California hit $5/gallon. California prices are up $0.36/gallon in just the last month and easily the highest prices in the country. California prices are $0.31/gallon higher than the second most expensive state and $1.48/gallon higher than the national average. Are Newsom and Democrats ready to acknowledge it’s their reckless policies that keep California prices sky high?
Unemployment rate: California has retaken the top spot of the nation’s highest unemployment rate, jumping to 5.3%. This news comes on the heels of learning that California had the nation’s slowest job growth in 2023.
School closure setbacks: The New York Times reported last week on troubling data showing just how harmful school closures during the pandemic were to students.
These findings should be especially frustrating to Californians whose schools – thanks to Newsom – were closed longer than any other state in the nation. California students are still struggling to recover. Test scores show more than half of students aren’t at grade level in English. Almost two thirds aren’t at grade level in math. More than two thirds aren’t at grade level in science. For low income and minority students, the numbers are even worse.
“While Gavin Newsom continues to shirk his duty of providing a State of the State, things continue to deteriorate in California. Whether he wants to face the music or not amidst a seemingly daily barrage of bad headlines, Californians still expect and deserve their annual update from this governor. Admitting your failed policies aren’t working isn’t easy, but that’s exactly what he should stand up in front of Californians and do.” – CAGOP Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson
