It is Alex Padilla’s race to lose for governor of California. Is he ready? | Opinion
It feels like a foregone conclusion that the underwhelming field of Democratic candidates for California governor is about to get some much-needed company and that California’s senior Senator, Alex Padilla, is destined to enter the race.
While he waits, presumably until after California’s political focus on redistricting is over and voters have decided the fate of Proposition 50 on Nov. 4, Padilla should not prepare for a coronation.
Padilla’s stances on the in-state issues, from homelessness to water to skyrocketing property insurance, are largely a public mystery. He has managed to avoid taking any controversial positions amid the rarefied air of the United States Senate. That would not work in the rough and tumble of Sacramento and the politics of the race for governor.
Padilla is no empty suit. He has earned what would be his initial front-runner status. But for him to morph from stately senator to a compelling candidate for governor, one with clear positions on how to advance California, Padilla is in for an extreme makeover.
Gov. Gavin Newsom gave Padilla the political boost of his career when, as he was serving as Secretary of State in 2020, the governor appointed him to the Senate seat vacated by the new vice president, Kamala Harris. Padilla became the first California Latino to hold this high office. “This is a proud day for California,” Newsom said at the time.
Padilla has remained close to the governor, never showing any political daylight between their views. The senator is now campaigning for Newsom’s redistricting brainchild, Prop. 50, which redraw California’s congressional maps in hopes of thwarting the partisan remapping efforts in Republican-led states like Texas and North Carolina. “Trump and MAGA Republicans are trying to rig the midterms,” Padilla said earlier this month on the platform X. “California is fighting back with Prop 50 — to protect our democracy from their chaos.
Establishment Democrats want a centrist candidate
Padilla is anchored in the political center among California Democrats while the current leading candidate in the gubernatorial race, Orange County’s Katie Porter, renounces corporate money and is more to the left. This has created a raging political heartburn for the party’s prevailing orthodoxy, and a political vacuum that undoubtedly is going to be filled.
When Padilla represented California’s 20th State Senate district with distinction for eight years (2006 to 2014), I repeatedly heard his stump speech as I worked for a Southern California water agency at the time. Padilla saw himself squarely in the middle of California life. Half of California’s population lived north of his Van Nuys-based district. Half lived to the south.
Padilla saw himself as a bridge builder between disparate regions, the perfect training for a governor. And as chair of the State Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications, he was no wallflower on a range of weighty issues. And in a contrast to Porter’s far more pugnacious personality, Padilla’s signature character is that of humility and grace.
Ever since reaching the U.S. Senate, however, Padilla has become far more circumspect on anything controversial, clearly an adopted political strategy.
A key example is water and the most controversial project of them all, Newsom’s modernization of the State Water Project. The governor wants to build two new water intakes in the northern Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and a single tunnel to deliver this supply to the California Aqueduct. The McClatchy California Editorial Board has twice asked Padilla his position on the governor’s project. Twice Padilla stated no position, basically saying he was studying the matter.
Such timidity is characteristic of a Senator who may never face a tough re-election in his life. But that’s simply not going to cut it as a candidate for governor who has yet to define himself in any meaningful way with voters. And if he tries to run from the real issues, Katie Porter stands ready to eat him alive.
Padilla’s moment in the sun in the Senate was on a day when he found himself on the ground. In June, while seeking to question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a Los Angeles press conference amid civic unrest, federal agents forced Padilla to the floor as he was yelling that he was a United States Senator. It was an unforgettable spectacle that spoke to how far our democracy has fallen.
When, presumably, Padilla announces his desire to return to Sacramento as California’s governor, he will have California Democrats’ undivided attention. He needs to be prepared to say far more than he has for years.
This story was originally published October 22, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "It is Alex Padilla’s race to lose for governor of California. Is he ready? | Opinion."