Newsom’s EV mandates offer a fitting example of his mismanagement of California, and unfortunately for him may stall whatever 2028 presidential aspirations he curiously maintains.

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Last week, President Trump signed a Congressional resolution repealing California’s destructive electric vehicle (EV) mandates that created a de facto industry standard for America’s entire automobile sector.  

Rescinding that mandate constitutes a sound policy victory, but it also highlights an issue that may doom California Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2028 presidential aspirations because of its toxicity in critical Midwestern swing states.  

As public policy, President Trump’s signature ended a Biden administration Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) waiver allowing California to impose a progressive ban on internal combustion autos by 2035 in favor of draconian EV quotas.  Twelve states and the District of Columbia foolishly joined California, thereby prohibiting consumers in those jurisdictions from choosing which type of car to drive.  

Aggravating that harm, those jurisdictions’ mandate became an effective nationwide mandate for automakers.  Because it’s difficult for large industrial enterprises like automakers to selectively produce and market specialized products for specific markets within the United States, the California mandate meant that consumers across other states would face fewer internal combustion choices and higher prices as well.  

That’s not the way that our system of interstate commerce as established by the Constitution itself is supposed to work.  California shouldn’t unilaterally dictate decisions and prices and options for the consumers coast-to-coast.  

Among other downsides, EVs cost significantly more than standard autos, exacerbated by the vagaries of fluctuating energy costs to recharge them.  The ongoing insufficiency of convenient recharging stations deepens that downside, as do EVs’ limited ranges.  Throw in colder weather that renders EVs inoperable, EVs’ weight and the cost of repairing EVs after even slight damage in everyday auto accidents, and it’s understandable why Americans continue to prefer traditional internal combustion auto choices.  

To be clear, none of this constitutes a criticism of EVs as a consumer option for those who choose them.  For Americans in warmer climates, who drive more sparingly, who enjoy short commutes or who possess the financial resources to buy them, EVs can be a wonderful car option.  

But what about drivers who don’t enjoy California’s climates, or dense urban geographies?  

Why should California politicians possess the power to create a top-down, one-size-fits-all mandate for an entire sector of our economy and for consumers everywhere across America?  

Even in California itself, EV sales dramatically trail their projected targets.  Accordingly, if even the state leading the de facto nationwide EV mandate movement can’t meet sales projections, despite its pleasant climate and urban centers, how is the remainder of the nation supposed to keep pace?  

California shouldn’t be imposing that costly, harmful mandate on its own citizens, let alone the rest of the even more reluctant nation.  

A free market, in contrast, allows consumers who prefer EVs to buy them without infringing upon the majority of consumers who resolutely prefer standard autos.  Ultimately, California’s mandate left the auto industry with no option than to artificially restructure toward an EV orientation, and left consumers with dwindling choices and higher prices approaching the 2035 deadline.  

That’s why American consumers and anyone connected to the domestic auto industry can be grateful to Congress and President Trump for rescinding California’s EV mandate.  

As for Newsom, his incompetent response to this month’s Los Angeles-area riots may doom his potential 2028 candidacy standing alone.  Substantial majorities of Americans support President Trump and oppose Governor Newsom on that inflammatory issue, and Newsom foolishly cast his lot with the indefensible side, for which he could pay politically.  

Even absent that response, however, precisely how do Newsom and his 2028 presidential campaign advocates envision him winning the critical Midwestern industrial states after pushing EV mandates that would cripple them?  Michigan with its longstanding auto industry in particular would seem beyond Newsom’s ability to soothe via his trademark cheesy, synthetic smile and plasticized Hollywood hair.  

Newsom's aspirations are curious in that he has governed while California only descended further into dysfunction and near-dystopia.  Whereas Americans and people across the world once aspired to move to the “Golden State,” in recent years its decline has reached such depths that it recently lost a Congressional seat for the first time in its history.  It requires a peculiar talent to destroy what was once the nation’s crown jewel, California.  

Regardless, Newsom’s EV mandates offer a fitting example of his mismanagement of California, and unfortunately for him may stall whatever 2028 presidential aspirations he curiously maintains.