California Governor Gavin Newsom speaking at the State of the State address in Sacramento, CA, Mar 8, 2022. (Photo: Sheila Fitzgerald/Shutterstock)
Newsom Postpones State Of The State Address To Attend Jimmy Carter’s Funeral In Washington
Newsom had received widespread criticism for planning to hold his Address before the Presidential inauguration
By Evan Symon, January 6, 2025 1:57 pm
The office of Governor Gavin Newsom announced over the weekend that the much hyped duel State of the State address and state budget presentation would not be happening this week, with the address instead being planned for later this year.
Last week, Newsom’s office had confirmed that the first combined State of the State address and state budget presentation would take place on January 9th. Controversially, the State of the State would come before the Presidential inauguration. Throughout it’s long history, State of the State addresses always went after Presidential inaugurations in inauguration years and had never been given in the first half of January. Newsom defended the two speeches coming at the same event, saying that he was “innovating” and that he had looking at a way to combine the speech and budget presentation for years.
“I thought I would perhaps do everybody a favor by collapsing them into one presentation which I’m looking forward to doing,” said Newsom of his plans last week.
However, Newsom’s plan was immediately criticized, and there had been some indications that he had been looking for a way to separate the two again into distinct speeches. This then led to the weekend when it was announced that the State of the State would now be delayed, with the reason given being the state funeral of former President Jimmy Carter. Carter died on December 29th in Plains, Georgia with a large string of public viewings and the state funeral being planned in the following days. As it happened, the state funeral was scheduled for January 9th, the same day as Newsom’s State of the State. Since Newsom is a sitting state Governor, he is obligated to attend the funeral.
According to Newsom’s office, the state budget presentation will now be split, with a preview coming out on Monday and then the Department of Finance giving the full presentation on Friday. As for the State of the State, no such date has been announced, with his office only giving a vague “Sometime later this year”. In addition to the funeral, it was also announced that Newsom would also be meeting federal officials in Washington to get more funding and approvals for the 2025-26 budget.
Newsom delays State of the State
While the reason behind the delayal of the State of the State was announced as the Carter funeral, many have said that Newsom is now using it as an excuse to save face to both move back the inauguration and once again split up the budget presentation and the address.
“Newsom had dedicated such a huge announcement to him saying that he would have that combined State of the State and budget presentation,” Dana, a Capitol staffer, told the Globe Monday. “But he got so much criticism for that. Holding it before Trump’s second inauguration was seen as disrespectful. It had also been seen as a way for Newsom to sort of pre-empt Trump’s inauguration by either going after him once again in the speech, announcing or proposing new policies to help block Trump’s efforts , or both. Likely both.
“But look at how many people complained. It was not a good look for Newsom. Newsom might have been looking for any sort of convenient excuse to delay. Jimmy Carter’s funeral falling on the same day could have been that golden excuse.
“Of course, Newsom kind of has to go to the funeral since he is a Governor and a major party figure. It’s just as likely that he wanted to attend the funeral, with the side bonus of trying to get budget funds for the 2025-2026 state budget.
“You are right though. Any way you look at it, Newsom’s delayal and trip to Washington are not solely being done for him to attend the funeral. Plus, now, he gets to avoid all that criticism for the delayal in the first place.”
As of Monday, it is currently unknown when Governor Newsom will give his State of the State address.
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“Last week, Newsom’s office had confirmed that the first combined State of the State address and state budget presentation would take place on January 9th. Controversially, the State of the State would come before the Presidential inauguration. Throughout it’s long history, State of the State addresses always went after Presidential inaugurations in inauguration years and had never been given in the first half of January. Newsom defended the two speeches coming at the same event, saying that he was “innovating” and that he had looking at a way to combine the speech and budget presentation for years.”
No. The REAL reason that Gruesome Newscum delayed his dog-and-pony show speech is FEAR of public reprisal. His WEF partner in crime – Justin Trudeau – just resigned after being threatened with a 25% tariff by DJT. Both WEF comrades have the lowest public approval ratings so naturally, Newscum wants to save his own skin. But, too late for our worst in history governor. 🙂
Can’t disagree, Raymond. Funny — it’s not as though people are actually going to tune in to his State of the State anyway. Not when all he does is lie about the state of the state! And the budget, and everything else. Seems to me that last year his extremely delayed state of the state sounded like a “Newsom for President” political ad. NO shame.
Also — sure, he says he’s going back east to attend Jimmy Carter’s funeral but I’m wondering if someone should take his passport so he doesn’t leave the country? I’m thinking he might be jittery about the widely discussed indictments that might be coming his way.
Let me save Newsolini some time.
The state of the state is bad!
It is that simple.
Yup, Cali Girl, that’s it in a nutshell, isn’t it.
And the state of the state is getting worse. I have read that approximately 1/3 of Gavin’s proposed 322-billion-dollar balanced budget relies on Federal government funds. If congress does its job and implements Trumps tax plan, It looks like folks that earn tips, work overtime or collect Social Security will receive a slice of the California budget after all. Let’s go DOGE. The State budget will see a slight increase in revenue as the people begin to spend this extra cash although it won’t be enough to cover this big of cut. Our punishment for this tax cut is the large increase in gas tax. A possible way to stop this gas tax insanity would be a qualify a ballot measure to eliminate CARB and this onerous gas tax.