What Do I Care Who Wins California? The Governor’s Race and Influencers

For long time readers, you know that I often create content around civic engagement to encourage people to vote. I also don’t shy away from endorsements, but usually stick to presidential/local (to me) candidates. With Xavier Becerra so close to the finish line, I was thisclose from reaching out to their team to ask if they needed any help to amplify his candidacy–pro bono, of course, because I wouldn’t take money if I’m endorsing someone. So imagine my surprise when this story dropped. It revealed an increasingly urgent tactic of campaigns paying influencers and the concern that they often do not inform their audience that they are being paid for content. The story reveals that a Latino influencer with over 2M followers was paid $100k by the other governor candidate (a billionaire) and it seems like the influencer didn’t disclose his payment, which calls to question the validity of their endorsement/work and what responsibility you owe an audience that looks to you not just for information, but political guidance.

I want to dive into that but first I want to answer the question of why does a girl from Chicago even care about who is Gov of California?! I thought about this and the truth I kept circling around is that through this platform, and getting to learn about the lives of Latinas all over the country, I realize that leadership and its impact doesn’t stop at the border of your neighborhood, city, or state. Often political leadership transcends those spaces and can be examples of what is possible for all of us, so yes, we all have a stake in this.

Additionally, California’s economy is the largest in the country and if it were it’s own country it would be the fourth largest in the world. How does that not impact us? I’ve also been fortunate to have so many friends and power house Lawtinas in California–I know that Cali is a case study for how good or bad policy can impact the rest of us. How could I not want the best for them?

I also believe that we all could benefit from a better understanding of how our lives intersect and impact each other. Just like we’re keeping an eye on California, we should be paying attention to the voter suppression occurring in Tennessee and Virginia–a push to disenfranchise Black voters is the beginning of a dismantling of rights and access to the ballot box that should spur all of us into action.

All this to say that you may not care how I specifically feel about the California race (fair). You also may also be interested in the billionaire candidate (also fair, in fact, Illinois has our own Billionaire governor and he is a progressive darling). But the rule that has served me well, as I make decisions on who to align myself with, and what type of leadership I want, is all other things being equal, I always bet on the Latin@.

Why? How could I be so certain? Because leaders with Becerra’s background, like my background, like many of your backgrounds or your immigrant parents/first-gen households, know that not only does he come with his pedigree and credentials but he brings a lived experience of grit and community care that impacts how a person leads–their ability to connect, to inform, to understand how policies impact people on the ground. We all deserve that type of leadership and it looks like California is on the cusp of electing someone that can show the rest of us what this type of Latino leadership looks like.