The Issues Nobody Is Talking About: What California’s Next Governor Will Actually Face

We have been examining the candidates running to replace Gavin Newsom — who they are, who funds them, and whether their records match their rhetoric.

Now let us talk about what they will actually face when they walk into the governor’s office on January 1, 2027.

Because the issues dominating this campaign — Trump, homelessness, gas prices — are not the whole story. There are two massive challenges bearing down on California that have received almost no serious attention from any candidate in this race.

The first will affect your electricity bill, your water bill and your quality of life for decades to come.

The second could strip healthcare coverage from millions of California seniors — including 2.3 million older adults who depend on Medi-Cal right now.

Here is what every California voter needs to know before June 2nd.

Issue 1: The AI Data Center Crisis Nobody Wants to Talk About

If you have noticed your electricity bill creeping up over the past year, part of the explanation may be sitting in a massive building you have never seen, consuming power around the clock to process AI queries from users around the world.

California currently has 286 operating data centers — and more are being proposed every month. The companies building them are some of the wealthiest corporations in human history and are spending billions of dollars on them, all in the name of “We must beat China.” The impact on ordinary Californians is only beginning to be felt.

The numbers are staggering:

A single AI-focused data center can consume as much electricity as 100,000 households. By 2028, data centers could consume 12% of all electricity used in the United States. A proposed 330-megawatt data center in Imperial, California alone is slated to take up 17 football fields of land and require 750,000 gallons of water every single day.

And scientists at UC Riverside have estimated that each 100-word AI prompt uses roughly one bottle of water for cooling. With billions of AI users worldwide entering prompts every minute, the cumulative impact on California’s already stressed water supply is enormous.

The cost to you:

In the Mid-Atlantic region — where data center construction is most advanced — increased energy demand caused an 800% surge in energy prices during a single capacity auction in 2024. Residential rates across 13 states are expected to rise by 20% in summer 2026 and by 30-60% by 2030 — driven largely by data center demand.

California is not immune. The state has already enacted legislation requiring data center developers to cover the costs of new energy infrastructure. But that law has no enforcement mechanism with real teeth, and the pace of data center construction is outrunning the state’s ability to manage its impact.

Water is the hidden crisis:

Even a mid-sized data center consumes as much water as a small town. Larger ones require up to 5 million gallons per day — the equivalent of a city of 50,000 people. A UC Riverside study found that water infrastructure upgrade costs just for California’s proposed data centers could run between $200 million and $800 million. Without new efficiencies, data center cooling systems could require up to 1.45 billion additional gallons of peak water capacity per day within four years — roughly equal to New York City’s entire daily water supply.

In a state that faces chronic drought, devastating wildfires, and aging water infrastructure, this is not a future problem. It is arriving right now.

What are the candidates saying about it?

Almost nothing — and that silence is itself a story.

At the Democratic convention held just miles from Silicon Valley — the heart of the AI explosion — candidates produced no coherent policy on data centers. Most campaign websites do not mention it at all.

The exceptions are limited:

Tom Steyer wants to collect a fee on AI usage to support displaced workers. Tony Thurmond proposed a tax on AI processing power to fund a worker transition program. Matt Mahan — funded by the very Silicon Valley billionaires building these data centers — says only that developers should cover their own energy costs. No water policy. No moratorium discussion. No worker displacement plan beyond that. No data security concerns being addressed.

Hilton and Bianco have no position on AI data centers whatsoever.

The conflict of interest hiding in plain sight:

Matt Mahan’s campaign is funded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Palantir’s Joe Lonsdale and other Silicon Valley billionaires — the same people whose companies are building these data centers across California. Mahan opposes the billionaire tax that would make those donors pay more. And his only data center policy — that developers should cover their own energy costs — is the absolute minimum position possible.

California voters deserve to ask every candidate a simple question: whose side are you on — the companies building data centers, or the families paying higher electricity and water bills because of them?

The Data Security Question No One Is Asking

There is another dimension to the AI data center boom that has received almost no attention in this governor’s race — and it may be the most alarming of all.

Financial analysts and national security experts who follow the AI industry closely have raised serious concerns about the security implications of building data centers at this pace and scale. The rush to build is being driven by a single overriding imperative: beating China to AI dominance.

But in that race, critical questions are being left unanswered. Who has access to the data stored in these facilities? What happens when — not if — these centers are breached by hostile foreign actors? What are the national security implications of concentrating so much sensitive data infrastructure in facilities whose security standards are set by the private companies building them, not by government regulators?

Financial media has repeatedly asked “Why the big rush?” The answer from Silicon Valley is always the same: because of China. But that answer does not address the risks being created in the headlong pursuit of AI dominance — risks that will fall not on the billionaires building these facilities, but on ordinary Americans whose data lives inside them.

California’s next governor will have more data centers in their state than almost any other. Not one major candidate has proposed a serious data security framework for them.

That silence should concern every Californian.

Issue 2: The Healthcare Crisis Bearing Down on California Seniors

If you are a senior in California, or if you have a parent or grandparent who depends on Medi-Cal, what is about to happen to California’s healthcare system should be at the top of your list of concerns heading into this election.

The scale of what is at stake:

Medi-Cal — California’s Medicaid program — covers more than one in three Californians. That includes 2.3 million seniors and people with disabilities who rely on it for health and long-term care. Without Medi-Cal, most older adults who need help with daily activities could not afford home-based or nursing facility care. Medi-Cal also covers dental, vision and hearing benefits that Medicare does not.

Now the program is facing a two-front assault.

Front 1 — Federal cuts:

The federal H.R. 1 legislation — passed by the Republican-controlled Congress — is expected to cut $30 billion a year in federal Medi-Cal funding from California. Up to 3.4 million California residents could lose coverage as a result. Starting in October 2028, patients will face up to $35 in copayments per service — a cost that will be devastating for seniors on fixed incomes.

To simply maintain current coverage levels, California will need to spend $1.1 billion more per year of its own money — at a time when the state is already running a multi-billion-dollar budget deficit.

Front 2 — State cuts:

Facing that deficit, California has already begun cutting Medi-Cal. The state has reinstated asset limits for seniors — meaning approximately 90,000 fewer seniors will qualify for Medi-Cal by 2029. Coverage of weight loss drugs has been eliminated. Over-the-counter drug coverage has been cut. Enrollment for certain immigrant groups has been frozen.

And Covered California — the state’s insurance marketplace — is facing its own crisis. The federal expiration of enhanced premium tax credits means that 1.8 million Californians who get insurance through Covered California will see their premiums rise by an average of 97%.

Read that again. Ninety-seven percent.

What are the candidates saying about it?

Every Democratic candidate in this race supports some version of expanded healthcare. But the gap between what they promise and what is financially possible is enormous.

California is facing a $30 billion annual hole in Medi-Cal funding alone — on top of an existing structural budget deficit. The candidates promising single-payer healthcare have not explained how they will fund it when the state cannot even maintain its existing Medicaid commitments.

The Republicans — Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco — have no specific healthcare plan beyond general calls for deregulation and lower costs. Bianco wants to eliminate the income tax, which is by far the state’s largest source of revenue, with no credible plan for how to fund anything — including healthcare.

Tony Thurmond is the only candidate who has specifically proposed a one-time tax on California billionaires to backfill federal Medi-Cal cuts. He is polling at 2%.

Xavier Becerra, who oversaw Medi-Cal as Biden’s HHS Secretary, has the deepest experience with the program — and has proposed declaring a state of emergency to freeze utility and insurance rates. But he faced direct criticism at the debates for lacking specific funding mechanisms.

The honest answer is that no candidate has a fully funded, credible plan to protect California’s seniors from what is coming. That is a fact every voter should think about before casting their ballot.

The Question Every Candidate Should Be Asked

California’s next governor will inherit a state facing:

• A $30 billion annual Medi-Cal funding cut that threatens coverage for 2.3 million seniors
• An AI data center boom that is driving up electricity and water costs with no adequate regulatory framework
• A structural budget deficit projected to reach $35 billion in the coming years
• The highest cost of living in the nation
• A homelessness crisis that has defeated every attempted solution
• A wildfire threat that is now year-round and has caused devastating harm to our land and citizens

These are not problems that can be solved with talking points, debate one-liners or campaign promises. They require specific plans, honest trade-offs and a willingness to tell voters the truth even when it is uncomfortable.

Which candidate is doing that?

We have covered all of them in depth over the past weeks. We leave that judgment to you.

Our UnsilencedTruth Take

After covering this race from every angle — the candidates, the money, the records, the promises and the real challenges ahead — here is our honest assessment:

California is at a genuine crossroads. The challenges facing the state are real, serious and in some cases urgent. The candidates running to address them range from genuinely qualified to genuinely alarming.

What strikes us most, after all of this research, is the gap between the scale of the problems and the specificity of the solutions being offered. Every candidate can tell you what is wrong with California and point to whose fault it is. Very few can tell you exactly how they will fix it — and fewer still are being honest about the trade-offs involved.

The one thing we know for certain: the worst outcome on June 2nd would be voter apathy. California’s problems will not be solved by people who do not vote.

The primary is June 2nd. Mail ballots are in your hands right now. Please use them.

Coming Next: Primary Night

The polls close at 8pm on June 2nd. UnsilencedTruth.com will be covering the results and breaking down what they mean for California — and for the country.

Who will make the top two? Will Democrats avoid the nightmare scenario? What happens next?

We will have answers on June 3rd.