Abbott and Newsome Score Time 100 Spots
that Open When Trump and Biden Snubbed
Capitol Inside
April 18, 2024
The Time list of the 100 most influential people in 2024 features Texas Governor Greg Abbott and California Governor Gavin Newsom in the lineup for the first time while President Joe Biden and Donald Trump are no-shows even though they wield more actual clout than any of their fellow Americans.
The governors in the two largest states were rated in the same league of sway with trans actor Elliott Page, African and British singers Burna Boy and 21 Savage and E. Jean Carroll, an 80-year-old journalist who accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s in a lawsuit that she won.
Kansas City Chiefs Quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban are the only other Texas residents who Time ranked as influentially superior to the current and former presidents who expect to meet in a rematch this fall in the race for the White House. Abbott and Mahomes are the only full-blooded Texans on the new Time list as natives of the Lone Star State.
The Time 100 for 2024 includes at least 10 people who make a living off an industry that's based in the southern part of the state that Newsom represents. America Ferrera, who was nominated for best supporting actress for her performance in Barbie, and Oscar nominee Jeffrey Wright from the best movie contender American Fiction, both made the Time list this time around along with fellow thespians Taraji P. Henson, Dev Patel, De'vine Joy Randolph, Maya Rudolph, Coleman Domingo, Michael J. Fox and Page, who starred in the 2007 film Juno as a pregnant teenager..
Randolph won the Academy Award for best supporting actress last month for her work in The Holdovers. Domingo was nominated for best actor for performance in Rustin. Page received a nod for best actress for Juno at a time she was still known as Ellen in credits.
Most Texans won't recognize the names of the lion's share of Time 100 members this year. Abbott and Newsom are the most glaring exceptions as leaders who've been world class self-promoters with visions of higher office that the magazine seems to share. U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York is the only other major American politician on the Times list.
Abbott touted his debut in the Time 100 on Instagram and X on Wednesday night. "Honored to be named one of @TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the world," Abbott said on X. "Every day, I wake up with the goal to keep Texas the #1 place to live, work, and raise a family.
I am proud to serve as Governor of the greatest state in the greatest nation."
But Abbott did not speculate on whether his elevation to the roster may have cost Trump a spot after six consecutive appearances on the list from 2016 until he was out of office for a full year in 2022. Newsom - by the same token - could have effectively knocked the American president off the chart.
The magazine depicted Abbott as the potential second coming of Trump.
"To the frustration of his political rivals, Greg Abbott is a talented room reader. During his nine years as the governor of Texas, he has proved adept at simultaneously throwing red meat to his conservative base while tempering pushback from the state’s liberal enclaves. All the while, he has masterfully needled Washington, through both unending legal challenges and agitating stunts, such as sending buses of migrants to Democratic cities. Despite some glaring missteps—including his handling of an ice storm that snowballed into an energy crisis, and initially praising the calamitous police response to the Uvalde school shooting—Abbott remains one of his party’s most persuasive pitchmen, especially on immigration, where he’s constantly pushing at the boundaries of what states can do on enforcement. Whether Donald Trump wins or loses this year, Abbott is among the contenders best positioned to eventually pick up the MAGA mantle."
Time was equally impressed with Abbott's West Coast counterpart.
"The California governor’s mansion has a history of catapulting ambitious politicians onto the national stage. Earl Warren left Sacramento in 1953 and remade the Supreme Court, overturning school segregation and expanding civil rights. Ronald Reagan rode a conservative wave from Hollywood all the way to the White House.
"Now it’s Gavin Newsom’s turn to see how far from Sacramento that West Coast power can carry one. He first gained national prominence two decades ago as the San Francisco mayor issuing same-sex-marriage licenses before virtually anyone else. As governor, he’s struggled to head off homelessness and street crime. But he’s emerged as a defender of liberal values and relishes mixing it up with Republicans. At a Fox News debate in the fall, he gleefully mocked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for trying to “out-Trump Trump” and losing.
"Amid pressure for Democrats to trade in Joe Biden, Newsom has instead adopted the role of full-throated attack dog for the 81-year-old President. That’s helped put Newsom, 56, on a short list of Democratic contenders for the White House in 2028."
Time has been selecting the 100 most influential Americas since 2000 when Texan George W. Bush was on the list as a governor who would be the next president. Bush made the list eight times including every year in the White House with the exception of 2007.
Governors have been relatively few and far between on the Time 100. Some of those who did like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in 2022 and former South Carolina leader Nikki Haley in 2016 ended up falling victim to Trump in the current presidential competition. Chris Christie - a former New Jersey governor who ran unsuccessfully for the White House nomination this year - was listed among the 100 most influential people in 2012 and 2013. Susana Martinez made the list in 2013 as a Republican who served as the governor in the heavily-Democratic state of New Mexico. Wisconsin's former governor Scott Walker was on the Time 100 in 2014.
more to come ... |
