A masterful Sacramento leader left the governor’s race. Here’s why | Opinion
Does running for governor of California have anything to do with picking an effective leader with a proven track any more?
If it did, former California Senate leader Toni Atkins might still be in the race because she established a remarkable record of leadership and, thanks to term-limits, may go down as the last person in state history to lead the Senate and Assembly in her legislative career from 2010 to 2024. Before that, she was mayor of San Diego, and despite all that experience, Atkins is the kind of leader Californians would undoubtedly want; she was unable to break through the noise of our political culture of TikTok videos, podcasts and perfomative gestures. .
“(I)t’s with such a heavy heart that I’m stepping aside today as a candidate for governor,” Atkins recently wrote in a letter to supporters. “Despite the strong support we’ve received and all we’ve achieved, there is simply no viable path forward to victory. Though my campaign is ending, I will keep fighting for California’s future.”
Atkins, 63, was the first openly gay woman to lead both legislative chambers at the Capitol, and she broke down one barrier after another while here in Sacramento. But it was never about the limelight for her. It was about legislating.
Every hour that Gov. Gavin Newsom spends these days on a podcast is time when he is not governing. Atkins had little such interest in constantly getting the public’s attention. She was a masterful general inside the Sacramento battlefield of politics, lawmaking and budget crafting.
Her achievements were all over the map. In 2014, with Sacramento’s Darrell Steinberg leading the Senate, he and Atkins ended five years of water conflicts by finding the elusive contents of a $7.5 billion water bond that voters would handily approve. She is responsible for enshrining into the state Constitution the woman’s right to choose and for access to contraception. Affordable housing, climate action, domestic violence and healthcare expansion were all within Atkin’s bandwidth as a leader.
Outwardly, Atkins was steady, unflappable and respectful. Even when she clashed with a governor, it was polite.
One such rare instance was in 2019, during Donald Trump’s first presidential term. Atkins wanted to enshrine as a state regulation any federal environmental rule that Trump was to roll back. Newsom wanted more flexibility, particularly on matters relating to water. It was Sacramento’s worst-kept secret that Newsom did not want Atkins’ legislation, Senate Bill 1, to reach his desk. Atkins, at the legislative session’s final hour, sent it anyway. Newsom summarily vetoed the legislation. And the two moved on.
Of the remaining candidates for governor, only Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles has senior legislative experience in Sacramento, as speaker of the Assembly for two years. But his Sacramento work was literally in the previous century, Villaraigosa termed out as of 2000. Atkins, meanwhile, is a master of today’s Sacramento.
By no means should a person of Atkin’s achievement be a shoo-in to the job as governor. But it should be enough to be a top-tier candidate. You can add up everything all the other candidates have done in this town this century, and Atkins likely did more in any of her years here.
California could use a governor with passion for the actual job and some knowledge of how to do it. But that’s clearly not what we want. That’s a statement about us, not her..
This story was originally published October 8, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "A masterful Sacramento leader left the governor’s race. Here’s why | Opinion."