{"id":72546,"date":"2026-04-23T18:55:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/23\/dems-jockeying-for-newsom-endorsement-give-passing-grades-on-issue-that-ignited-poop-map-crisis\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T18:55:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:55:29","slug":"dems-jockeying-for-newsom-endorsement-give-passing-grades-on-issue-that-ignited-poop-map-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/23\/dems-jockeying-for-newsom-endorsement-give-passing-grades-on-issue-that-ignited-poop-map-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Dems jockeying for Newsom endorsement give passing grades on issue that ignited ‘poop map’ crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

None of the Democratic candidates running to replace outgoing California Governor Gavin Newsom<\/a> gave him below a “B-minus” grade on combating homelessness \u2014 a moment that Republicans sharing the debate stage on Wednesday evening called a laughable evaluation of the state\u2019s problem.<\/p>\n

“My goodness, of course it’s an F,” Republican candidate Steve Hilton,<\/a> a former Fox News host, said.<\/p>\n

“It shames our state, the situation with homelessness. We have about 10% of the U.S. population, around 50% of the country’s homeless,” he continued.<\/p>\n

The moment forced the four Democratic<\/a> candidates to weigh in on efforts to unwind a crisis that has only worsened in recent years despite billions in funding. It also highlighted a reluctance among Democrats to critique Newsom, who has yet to make an endorsement in the race.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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“<\/strong>I’m a notoriously tough grader, but I would probably give him a B on homelessness,” Katie Porter, a former Democratic congresswoman, said.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think this has been an easy problem to solve, but I do give him a lot of credit for calling attention to the problem.”<\/p>\n

Tom Steyer<\/a>, a billionaire-businessman-turned candidate, put Newsom\u2019s performance in the same ballpark.<\/p>\n

NEWSOM STILL BACKING $114M ‘BRIDGE TO NOWHERE’ FOR MOUNTAIN LIONS AND BUTTERFLIES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“So I’d give the governor a B-minus on this,” Steyer said.<\/p>\n

But one other Democrat, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, made the case<\/a> that the grade was too low, citing Newsom\u2019s “effort.”<\/p>\n

“I would say that the governor has made efforts. We’ve seen him come down to Los Angeles<\/a>, actually go out and try to clean some of these streets. On effort, I would give him an A,” Becerra said.<\/p>\n

California reported 161,400 people had experienced homelessness on any given night in 2024, according to<\/a> the California State Senate Housing Committee.<\/p>\n

The numbers are higher than when Newsom took office in January 2019.<\/p>\n

That year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development put California\u2019s <\/a>homeless population<\/a> at 108,400 \u2014 32% less than levels in 2024.<\/p>\n

The persistently high rates have thwarted billions in funding to bring the numbers down. California has spent roughly $20 billion on homeless initiatives from 2019 to 2025, according to<\/a> the California Budget and Policy Center, a left-leaning think tank.<\/p>\n

In a 2023 debate with Newsom on Fox News’ “Hannity,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis famously illustrated the acuteness of the homelessness problem by holding up a map of San Francisco, detailing over 270,000 reported instances of feces found on the streets of the city, which was dubbed the “poop map” on social media.<\/p>\n

To Republican candidate Chad Bianco,<\/a> Riverside County Sheriff, it\u2019s clear the problem has nothing to do with money.<\/p>\n

“It is an absolute dismal failure<\/a> and anyone that says it’s not is fooling themselves \u2014 or trying to fool voters,” Bianco said.<\/p>\n

CALIFORNIA SHERIFF USES ‘TO CATCH A PREDATOR’ PLAYBOOK TO SQUASH BLUE STATE CRIME<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“We are not dealing with homeless, so stop calling it homeless. It has nothing to do with homes. These people are suffering from drug and alcohol abuse<\/a> and mental illness,” he added.<\/p>\n

California will hold its gubernatorial primary on June 2. The top two candidates will advance to the general election<\/a> on Nov. 3, according to the California Secretary of State.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

None of the Democratic candidates running to replace outgoing California Governor Gavin Newsom gave him below a “B-minus” grade on combating homelessness \u2014 a moment that Republicans sharing the debate stage on Wednesday evening called a laughable evaluation of the state\u2019s problem. “My goodness, of course it’s an F,” Republican candidate Steve Hilton, a former … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72546\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}