Newsom will stop in Israel before China climate trip

Having closed the book on his fifth year of making laws for California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has put down his veto pen and started packing his suitcase.

The governor has left California for stops around the globe that will give him opportunities to build his image as a national leader — and test his skill at stepping into fraught international conflicts.

First Newsom is heading to Israel where he plans to meet with people impacted by the war, his aides said. Newsom’s office did not release details of his agenda in Israel, citing security concerns, but said California is sending medical supplies to the region.

From there he’ll travel to Hong Kong where he begins a weeklong trip that will take him through China next week to meet with local officials and business leaders about climate change. Specifically, they’ll be talking about what California and China can learn from each other about reducing greenhouse gas emissions, cleaning up polluted air and conserving natural lands.

Although friction between the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters makes cooperation between China and the U.S. difficult, Newsom hopes California can help bridge the gap through “subnational” diplomacy — encouraging climate-focused partnerships among cities, states and provinces.

On Newsom’s agenda: visits to a huge Tesla factory in Shanghai, an all-electric bus depot in Shenzhen and a facility that produces clean energy from offshore wind. He’s also scheduled to visit a wetlands preserve and take a ride on China’s high speed rail. Over the weeklong voyage, Newsom is expected to sign five memorandums of understanding with cities and provinces to, among other things, encourage decarbonizing industry and promoting clean energy.

Newsom is not the first California governor to travel to China with a climate change-fighting mission — he follows in the footsteps of his two predecessors. But Newsom’s trip comes as relations between the U.S. and China have grown increasingly tense, and just months after Chinese leaders rejected attempts by President Biden’s climate envoy to commit to tougher climate action.

“We’re fighting on two fronts: Can America and China learn to live in the world together, and can we, together, take steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?” former Gov. Jerry Brown said when I spoke with him earlier this week.

Brown, since leaving the governor’s office, has led the California-China Climate Institute at UC Berkeley, which has been involved in planning Newsom’s trip.

“I think Newsom is showing some wisdom and some courage in going, because climate is not waiting for Israel, the United States or Vladimir Putin,” Brown said. “It is inexorable. Every moment, every day, things are getting worse, and so we have to deal with it — you can’t avoid it.”

Read more about what California hopes to learn from China on clean technologies — and what California can teach China — in this article.

I’ll be traveling with Newsom as he makes his way through China next week so keep your eye on latimes.com for more coverage. When possible, I hope to share some of my reporting on the platform once known as Twitter (I still have a hard time calling it X) so feel free to follow along there too: @LaurelRosenhall

Now here’s what else is going on this week in California politics:

Is Sen. Laphonza Butler in candidate mode?

Actor George Clooney, actor Don Cheadle, U.S. Sen. Laphonza Butler and California Gov. Gavin Newsom visiting the Roybal School of Film and Television Production in Los Angeles.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Meanwhile, back here in California, the 2024 race to replace the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein continues to get more interesting as we creep toward the March primary election.

Just days after being appointed by Newsom to fill Feinstein’s vacant senate seat, Laphonza Butler was in Los Angeles mingling with celebrities George Clooney and Eva Longoria during her whirlwind introduction to life as a U.S. senator.

Times reporters Benjamin Oreskes, Seema Mehta and Matt Hamilton chronicled Butler’s first full week in office — which had all the look of someone who might be a candidate for office.

Butler didn’t respond when asked if she planned to run for the seat in the 2024 election. The former EMILY’s List president capitalized on the opportunity, crisscrossing California, attending events — public and private, big and small — in Orange, Los Angeles and San Francisco counties, among other locales.

As she ponders, Butler is leaning into her labor roots. She’s had confabs with the executive board of the California Teachers Assn. — a powerful statewide union that represents about 300,000 teachers — and also met with elected officials and union leaders from the politically powerful Service Employees International Union and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

A new face enters the Senate race

Los Angeles television newscaster Christina Pascucci has jumped into California’s 2024 Senate race.

(Jc Olivera / Getty Images)

If you don’t know much about Butler’s background, you’re in luck. Mehta and Hamilton teamed up with Times reporters Noah Bierman and Taryn Luna to explain how Butler’s rise as a behind-the-scenes labor leader and Democratic strategist, including to Vice President Kamala Harris, led to her Senate appointment.

“Laphonza has a very straightforward, no-nonsense approach to things. It’s not hard to figure out what she’s thinking,” said one of her early mentors, Andy Stern, the president of the 1.9-million-member SEIU.

It’s a fascinating journey that took her from Magnolia, Miss., to Washington as only the third Black woman ever to serve in the United States Senate.

If Butler does decide to run, she’ll have some work to do. According to the latest federal campaign finance reports, Rep. Adam B. Schiff of Burbank continues to hold a strong lead over his rivals in fundraising. Schiff brought in nearly $6 million in campaign contributions in the last three months, and reported having $32 million in cash on hand, a story by Times reporter Laura J. Nelson showed. Schiff’s bankroll far exceeds the amounts reported by the other top Democrats in the race, Reps. Katie Porter of Irvine and Barbara Lee of Oakland.

Finally, California’s 2024 senate race got a surprise new entry: Los Angeles newscaster Christina Pascucci. The 38-year-old Democrat said she offers California voters a centrist option for voters tired of polarization in the nation’s politics.

Keeping up with California politics

How conservatives are waging a coordinated, anti-LGBTQ+ culture war in California schools
A small band of agitators and their backers have exacerbated concerns over LGBTQ+ school policies using a decades-old playbook of casting queer people as “groomers” and an amalgam of misinformation about what’s actually happening in California schools, including baseless claims that teachers are “indoctrinating” students into being queer.

Barabak: These California Republicans voted for Jim Jordan and against the good of the country. Remember their names
On Wednesday, California’s 12 GOP House members put tribal loyalty above the country’s best interests and heedlessly cast their votes to make Jim Jordan — election denier, Jan. 6 instigator, political pyromaniac — the next House speaker. Remember their names — especially the ones who are running next year in some of the country’s most competitive reelection contests: Ken Calvert. John Duarte. Mike Garcia. Michelle Steel. David Valadao.

Skelton: Californians are in a sour mood, which should be good news for Republicans. It’s not
Californians don’t like the direction their state and the nation are headed. But they like the Democratic leaders who are in charge: Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Biden. Does that make sense? It makes perfect sense. For most Californians, a Republican alternative is simply unacceptable on its face.

News Analysis: With actions on drug laws, mental health and labor, Newsom moves toward center in second term
When Gov. Gavin Newsom put down his veto pen Friday night, closing the book on his fifth year of making laws for California, what emerged were signs that in his second term leading the state, the liberal Democrat from San Francisco is drifting toward the political center.

Who will replace the late Sen. Feinstein in 2024 election? Meet the potential candidates
Even before the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a historic force in California politics whose death was announced in late September, initially revealed that she would not seek reelection in 2024, ambitious Democratic politicians had begun lining up to replace her. A handful of prominent Republicans recently announced they would vie for the Senate seat as well, with another big-name GOP Californian weighing a bid.