Newsom's ‘Sargent Shriver' running for California lieutenant governor

Politico

05-03-2025

SACRAMENTO, California — A close aide to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who helped expand California's New Deal-inspired service programs into a network larger than the Peace Corps, on Wednesday will announce his 2026 campaign for lieutenant governor, joining a crowded field that includes political veterans and a nationally recognized anti-poverty advocate.
Josh Fryday, Newsom's chief service officer and previously a Navy JAG officer and mayor of the Northern California town Novato, outlined to POLITICO a campaign focused on expanding volunteer service and job pathways, hunkering down to meet the state's ambitious climate goals and speeding up the construction of millions more homes in the Golden State.
Fryday's effort recalls a bygone time in American politics when elected leaders from both major political parties bonded over their shared experiences in service — often in the military. At the root of his upbeat, perhaps quaint, message, at a time of incessant partisan rancor, sky-high distrust in the country's institutions and what the last surgeon general diagnosed as 'an epidemic of loneliness,' is the idea that government — which Fryday views as a vast collection of mostly well-intentioned people — 'can be a force for good.'
'We're in a moment where we have to recognize that political division and extremism isn't going to improve anybody's life, and we have to also be honest that government is not going to solve everything — it can't alone,' he said in an interview. 'It's actually up to us — the people of the state — to fix the communities we love. And the lieutenant governor can play a critical role in bringing people together to engage and empower everyone in new ways.'
Like another Democrat in the race, 34-year-old former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs, a pioneer for universal basic income and one-time special adviser to the governor on poverty issues, Fryday, 44, is well-connected. In addition to serving in Newsom's Cabinet, he works closely with his spouse, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who herself was once viewed as a possible contender for the state's No. 2 office. Fryday clerked for Kamala Harris when she was district attorney of San Francisco, staffing her at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and was chief operating officer for billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer's NextGen Climate.
Fryday also served in Yokosuka, Japan, on relief efforts after the 2011 tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster and was stationed in Guantanamo Bay, where he worked on detainee cases.
'When you serve, and this is my experience, that's when you get to feel what it's like to have a common bond with other people, especially people from very different backgrounds and perspectives, who think differently than you, look different and probably vote differently than you,' he said. 'That experience to be part of something that's bigger than you with other people, we just don't provide that in our society enough.'
He wants to use partnerships with the private sector to scale up versions of his programs. 'This is saying to everyone, 'we actually need you to tackle some of the big challenges that we have.' And I know people are hungry for that.'
Fryday's collection of service-based state outfits have been a model for state and national efforts focused on education and global warming, among other issues. John Podesta, former White House chief of staff and the nation's top climate diplomat in the Biden administration, credited California's Climate Action Corps as the inspiration for the American Climate Corps, which is focused on climate change prevention. The journalist James Fallows, writing days ahead of Trump's victory, praised Fryday and his CalVolunteers' College Corps, whose members spend 450 hours tutoring and mentoring younger students in exchange for up to $10,000 toward college expenses. It set the template for a similar program in New York.
And Newsom referred to Fryday as 'my own Sarge Shriver,' the ambassador who married into the Kennedy family, founded the Peace Corps and Head Start and started the Special Olympics. Newsom considers Shriver one of his heroes and urged Fryday to read his biography when he started in the role. Fryday, in turn, has made that a requirement for his senior staff. He said he plans to remain in the state Cabinet post while running for office.
'What we're trying to build, what I've been building, and what I hope to continue building is very much in that Kennedy spirit of calling on people to serve, asking people to be engaged, and expecting people to be engaged, and then actually creating opportunities for them to be engaged,' Fryday said.
The lieutenant governor in California is independently elected and sits on higher education and environmental posts, but there is little in the way of defined responsibility and even less in the way of hard power. That makes it a blank canvas of sorts for candidates to pour their desires onto. While there's a musical chairs quality to the shifting statewide candidate field — thanks in large part to Harris' potential to scatter the Democratic field in the 2026 governor's race — Fryday and Tubbs are joined by Treasurer Fiona Ma and state Sen. Steven Bradford. Ma has a big early edge in fundraising.
Fryday's team is led by one of the country's premier pollsters, David Binder, along with Nick Baldick of Hilltop Public Solutions and Mattis Goldman of Three Point Media. Fryday said he spoke with Newsom about his run, but declined to reveal specifics of their private conversations.
'I think he's proud of what we've built and the work that we are doing,' he said of his boss. 'I think he sees how impactful it is across the state, how many people it's helping, communities it's serving. And I think he wants to see it continue to grow.'