Meet the 20-year-old Cal Poly student running for governor in the Newsom recall election
If he wins, John Drake will be the United States’ youngest governor ever.
The 20-year-old Ventura resident, Latvia adoptee, bisexual man, progressive Democrat and incoming Cal Poly junior has put his hat in the crowded ring of 46 candidates running to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom in the upcoming recall election.
Drake’s fueled by his passion for politics — he’ll be majoring in political science with a concentration in government and policymaking at Cal Poly — and frustration at the current system, he said in an interview with The Tribune on Thursday.
“I want to be able to push for things like statewide rent control and just so many other issues that are affecting young people and disadvantaged people,” he said. “I figured if Newsom was gonna get recalled, why not be that alternative?”
His lack of experience in elected office and young age shouldn’t deter people, Drake said.
Instead, he’s found his base rallies around those two factors.
“Considering that young people, Generation Z, have not had a say at the table with any of the policy that’s being pushed and made, I think by running and giving a voice to those people, I can say, ‘Here are the issues that are going to affect us, here are the issues that are important to my generation, because we’re going to have to deal with the consequences of you not addressing that,’ ” he said. “The majority of the people who have clung to my campaign, some are progressive boomers who acknowledge that they’ve screwed us over.
“And others, I would say that the vast majority of people who have fallen into my campaign are young people because they are happy that I am out here telling special interest (groups), telling corporations, telling lobbyists that ‘Look, your money is no good. You have screwed us over.’ “
Drake is frustrated by the “multi-millionaires” like Newsom who he says have long held control of the governor’s office in California. He wants “regular people” to win and make policy, he said.
His top campaign priorities are “affordable housing, affordable education and affordable health care,” he said. He’s also passionate about addressing climate change issues, supporting the LGBTQ+ community, advocating for pro-choice abortion rights and combating mental health problems that lead to gun violence.
Having strong policies off the bat in his campaign was important, Drake said.
“Doing this sort of stuff actually helps us to be able to make a better state for everyone,” he said.
From Ventura to Cal Poly
Drake’s parents — who adopted him from Riga, Latvia, when he was 4 years old — live in Oklahoma. They moved there from California so they could afford to live and work after the 2008 recession hit them hard, Drake said.
He’s stayed in Ventura, however, because he loves the area and to attend Ventura College, the local community college.
Drake said he chose to transfer to Cal Poly because he likes the internship programs offered there and he wanted to stay in California.
If elected, Drake said he would take a year off from Cal Poly to be governor.
Despite his candidacy, he said he doesn’t think Newsom will be recalled. In that case, or if another recall candidate were to win, Drake said he plans to run in the next election for governor.
“Because I’m so young, that already makes me stand out from the crowd,” Drake said. “It’s not politics as usual. It’s something to be energized about and something to try out because everything else, in my opinion, has failed. And so I think in the next election I’ll have a pretty good shot.”
This story was originally published August 20, 2021 at 9:00 AM.
