Two new polls on the California governor's race are telling completely different stories. Betty Yee just dropped out and said "conflict sells" on her way out the door. LA County cut homeless outreach in half while spending $843 million. And Gavin Newsom's PAC spent $1.56 million buying two-thirds of his own memoir — then his team called the sales "organic."
Story 1 — The Governor's RaceBetty Yee out. Becerra surging from 4% to as high as 23% depending on the poll. Two Republicans still leading in the party's own internal numbers. Debate is tomorrow night. Six weeks to the primary.
Story 2 — LA County Homelessness$843M budget. Street outreach cut from $54M to $26M. California has spent $24 billion on homelessness since 2019. The population grew by 30,000. A State Auditor report found $9.4 billion couldn't even be evaluated — no outcomes tracked.
Story 3 — Newsom's "Bestseller"FEC filings show his PAC bought 67,000 of 97,400 total print copies. Strip those out: 30,400 organic sales. The New York Times put a dagger on the listing. His team called it "organic." The filing says otherwise.
Sources
- Betty Yee exit: https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/04/california-governor-race-yee/
- CA Dem Party poll: https://www.abc10.com/article/news/politics/california-governor-race-poll-hilton-bianco-lead-becerra-gains-support/103-1bf606df-6054-4be9-b9c2-68eafada61dc
- IVP poll: https://ivn.us/posts/breaking-xavier-becerra-bolts-into-first-place-in-ivn-california-governor-poll-2026-04-20
- LA homelessness budget: https://www.fox11la.com/news/la-county-homelessness-budget-outreach-cut-2026
- CA State Auditor: https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/homelessness
- Newsom PAC book — NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/us/politics/newsom-pac-book-sales.html
- FEC filing summary: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/newsom-pac-bought-thousands-memoir-copies
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