Endorsement: Gov. Newsom has earned another term leading California’s largest state, and no other incumbent in the race has proven to be as effective as this former assemblyman from the San Francisco Bay Area, who has served as a progressive lightning rod and a reliable vote for Democrats in their fight to gain a majority in the state Assembly. The other three Republicans in the primary include a San Francisco state senator, a Sacramento city councilman, and a Los Angeles County supervisor. They face the primary challenge of Steve Pomeroy, a political veteran who served as an aide to former U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp.
Pomeroy, a former chairman of the San Francisco board of supervisors, has been on the board of the Democratic Party of San Francisco for more than 30 years. He was instrumental in getting the city’s first female mayor (Angela Alioto) elected in the early 1990s. Pomeroy won that race against a Republican and has had a long political career, including a stint as a state superior court judge in the Santa Clara County. He has won election to the state Assembly twice, in the 20th District, where he represents the southeastern Berkeley portion, and 20th’s new northern extension, and at the Board of Supervisors, where he has served as chairman of the Public Utilities Control Board and the Planning Commission.
His most important legislative accomplishment has been getting the state to increase spending for public transportation in California, and he has led the charge for that money. In addition, by working with Republicans on the state legislature, he has helped improve the state budget process for the betterment of the state and its citizens.
Although he was born in Seattle, Pomeroy moved to California when he was 8 years old. He became a graduate of the University of Washington after an early attempt at a career in the sciences was cut short. After earning his undergraduate degree, he was admitted to Stanford Law School and then clerked for a judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He practiced law before becoming an assistant U.S. attorney, then a U.S. District Attorney. He was named U.S. Attorney for Northern California in 1988 and U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California in