Newsom holds last-minute livestream as his regulators seek $113B in fuel fees

(The Center Square) - California Governor Gavin Newsom held a last minute virtual event for his national political action committee that has been mobilizing voters nationwide as his regulators entered their seventh hour of public comment before a vote to approve $113 billion in credits for electric vehicle charging and hydrogen paid for by fees on gasoline and diesel.

“This community has knocked on millions and millions of doors and made hundreds and hundreds of thousands of phone calls, I think we logged — last I looked — 33 million text messages you all put out,” said Newsom for his Campaign for Democracy event. “We raised millions and millions of dollars … a lot of that money is being called upon today to address the work we still have in front of us to finish the count, particularly in some of these key congressional races here in California with hundreds of thousands of votes still uncounted.”

As of the latest ballot count, California reported 5.5 million uncounted ballots.

Newsom is term limited as California governor and must step down in 2026. Should he wish to run for higher national office, CFD could draw upon volunteers and donors mobilized across the nation. Newsom first mobilized national signups for the PAC through his call for a national constitutional convention to expand gun control, and used some of its funds to run ads in Republican states on abortion.

“We believe that all patriotic Americans must go on offense in red states as well as blue states, bringing the fight to statehouses, local communities, electoral battlegrounds, and our nation’s capitol to save the great American experiment in democracy,” wrote CFD in the event’s description, signaling the organization’s — and its leader’s — national aspirations.