It’s just days after the first presidential debate, but outside Safeway in the Trumpiest town in deep blue California, nobody is discussing President Biden’s bumbling performance – or even that of President Trump who won by a landslide here in both 2016 and 2020.
Instead, the talk in Susanville is all of one man: Golden State Governor Gavin Newsom.
And as he positions himself to take over the Democratic presidential nomination should the 81-year-old Commander-in-Chief bow to pressure to step down, that talk is getting more and more panicky.
Newsom, 56, was front and center after the debate in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday night – presenting himself as a vigorous alternative to the ageing Biden while simultaneously denying any plans to run.
Here, in northeastern California, 4,100 ft up in the Sierra Nevadas, in the county seat of state’s reddest county, the prospect of a Newsom presidency is regarded with utter horror.
California Republican Jackie, 67, who declined to give her last name, was soliciting signatures for a new petition to oust the Governor Newsom in the red city of Susanville, in Lassen County
California Republicans are horrified at the prospect of their governor, Gavin Newsom, replacing Joe Biden on the ballot, should the president bow to pressure to step down after his bumbling performance at the first presidential debate last week
‘Newsom has been absolutely terrible for the families in Susanville,’ writer Kelly Eggert, 58, told DailyMail.com outside the local Tractor Supply Co.
‘In California, the Democrats have got things wrong. They don’t have the best interests of the US at heart.
‘If Newsom became president, he would be a complete nightmare. I think it would be like the Civil War all over again.’
While few in Susanville have anything good to say about Biden, it is Newsom who draws the most flak.
The petition points to a long list of reasons to remove Newsom, such as the high taxes, woke social policies, his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the homeless crisis
Voters point to a record that they say includes responsibility for sending the state into the red after a spending spree on social programs, rampant homelessness, and policies that amount to a vendetta against conservative areas.
Along with voting heavily for Trump in the past two elections – 71% in 2016 and 74% in 2020 – Lassen County also led efforts to oust the California governor in 2021 and broke heavily for his Republican rival Brian Dahle in the 2022 Gubernatorial election.
Dahle, 58, who grew up on a farm in a rural part of the county, now represents the area in the California State Senate along with most of the Sierra Nevada counties of Northern California.
Like neighboring Modoc, Plumas, and Shasta counties, Lassen is largely rural and is more than 300 miles north of San Francisco and 550 miles from Los Angeles.
Susanville, a city of just over 16,000 people that revels in the nickname ‘Prison Town’ due to the two biggest local employers: The maximum-security High Desert State Prison just outside the city limits and Federal Correctional Institution Herlong, 16 miles away.
Located in northeastern California’s Sierra Nevadas, Susanville is more than 300 miles north of San Francisco and 550 miles from Los Angeles
The city of Susanville is the seat of Lassen County which Trump who won by a landslide in both 2016 and 2020. The city’s political leanings are still evident throughout
In the last two elections, the majority of the county voted for Trump, 71% in 2016 and 74% in 2020. Republicans in the region also led efforts to oust Newsom in 2021
A pro-Trump flag mocking Democrats Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton is decorates a lawn in Susanville
Until last year, the town was also home to the California Correctional Center – shut down last June by Newsom as part of an effort to save $1.5billion by closing five prisons.
Backing on to High Desert, the still-standing facility looked forlorn when DailyMail.com visited and its closure still infuriates locals who saw 300 jobs disappear overnight.
Among them was Eggert’s son-in-law who, she said, was able to transfer to High Desert although not all were as lucky.
‘He did this to punish a Republican area,’ she said furiously. ‘He injured our livelihoods. I think he’s trying to get Republicans to move out of California.’
One person who agrees is Jackie, 67, who asked not to give her last name.
Outside the Susanville branch of Safeway, she was soliciting signatures for a new petition to oust the Governor – the second attempt since he first assumed office in 2019 should it collect the 75,000 endorsements needed to make it on to the ballot in November.
‘I don’t believe he has the capability to be president,’ she said. ‘Look what he has done to the largest state in the Union.
‘And you want to hand him how many more states?’
As she spoke to DailyMail.com, a man drove past in a large truck. Catching sight of her sign, he shouted ‘get rid of that sucker!’ to a large round of applause from onlookers.
Susanville is also known as ‘Prison Town’ due to the two biggest local employers, including the maximum-security High Desert State Prison just outside the city limits
The Federal Correctional Institution Herlong is located just 16 miles away. It is among the facilities that survived Newsom’s move to close five state prisons in an effort to save $1.5billion
Like neighboring Modoc, Plumas, and Shasta counties, Lassen is largely rural
It’s a view that comes up consistently in Susanville, with locals pointing to the prison closure as well as many of the points listed on the RescueCalifornia.org petition: the high taxes levied by Newsom’s administration, his embrace of woke social policies, his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the homeless crisis that sprang up on his watch.
‘We want to slow down some of the insanity,’ said Jackie. ‘Look at San Francisco. It used to be off-the-rocks beautiful.
‘Now look at it. People used to have a way of mingling and now nobody even talks to each other. It’s so polarized and divisive.’
Speaking to DailyMail.com writer Kelly Eggert, 58, blamed the governor for ‘injuring’ the livelihoods of residents and believes he is trying to ‘punish a Republican area’
Retired teacher Michael Monahan, 71, told DailyMail.com he believes Newsom is corrupt and accused him of persecuting the Republican parts of California; while conceding he might make a better president than Biden if only because of his relative youth.
He said: ‘I don’t like him at all. He’s Nancy Pelosi’s nephew [Newsom is a distant relation by marriage]. I despise Nancy Pelosi.
‘She is a total hypocrite and all she does is get rich off of government, which is another problem.
‘I have a problem with both Democrats and Republicans when they get filthy, stinking rich off of their policies – it’s all backyard trading and I don’t like it.’
Monahan, who previously worked at the California Correctional Center, added: ‘We’re getting persecuted by Governor Newsom which is making more people more angry.
‘He’s persecuting Lassen County. Guess what he did? He shut our prison down. He shut it down.’
Jeremy Caruso, 53, the editor of local paper Susanvillestuff.com says these views are far from unique, adding that when the idea of shutting down the California Correctional Center was first mooted, angry Susanville officials considered renaming the local landfill site after the unpopular governor.
Retired teacher Michael Monahan, 71, told DailyMail.com he believes Newsom is corrupt and accused him of persecuting the Republican parts of California
Newsom, 56, was front and center after the debate in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday night – presenting himself as a vigorous alternative to the aging Biden while simultaneously denying any plans to run
Lassen County heavily supported Newsom’s Republican rival Brian Dahle in the 2022 Gubernatorial election
He said: ‘I police the comments on the website – we hit about 30,000 people every morning and you get a feel for how people are thinking.
‘You’d be amazed at how many things this town can blame on the Governor.’
That animosity, he added, even extends to the recent arrival of hippy collective the Rainbow Family who had planned to hold its annual gathering in the nearby Plumas National Forest this July 4.
Susanville is located more than 300 miles north of San Francisco in the Sierra Nevadas
Now shut down, the prospect of 10,000 modern-day hippies descending on Susanville was enough to prompt the local police department to issue dire warnings, telling locals not to interact with them and saying they had seen plans to ‘puddle’ people – dousing them in an LSD-infused water spray.
Caruso added: ‘The Rainbow Family coming here. Newsom’s fault.’
Not everyone in Susanville thinks Newsom has been a disaster, among them mom-of-four Laura Hammond, 43, and her boyfriend Jacob White, 33.
They told DailyMail.com that they try to stay out of politics and offered a lukewarm endorsement of the California governor, concluding that he would be an improvement on Biden because he is so much younger.
But firefighter David Sandbond, 60, whose wife and son both work at High Desert, is more typical of this conservative town.
‘We just want to do what we do and be left alone,’ he told DailyMail.com. Asked his thoughts on Newsom, he visibly recoiled and said: ‘I’m not going to comment on that man.’
Regardless of whether Newsom or Biden end up on the Democrat ticket, Sandbond’s mind is already made up. ‘I’m going to vote for Trump,’ he said. ‘Of course.’
