Thursday was Governor Gavin Newsom's last opportunity for a big State of the State address before the California Legislature, and he used it to tout a small drop in homelessness, to admit to some failures, and to celebrate California standing up to the Trump administration.

"Every year, the declinists, the pundits and critics suffering from California derangement syndrome look at this state and try to tear down our progress," Newsom said. "California’s success is not by chance — it’s by design. We’ve created the conditions where dreamers and doers and misfits and marvelers with grit and ingenuity get to build and do the impossible."

Newsom pointed to the "carnival of chaos" that President Trump has presided over in Washington,

"The federal government is unrecognizable,” he said. "Secret police, businesses being raided, windows smashed, citizens detained, citizens shot, masked men snatching people in broad daylight, people disappearing, using American cities as training grounds for the U.S. military — purposeful chaos emanating from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave."

But, he said, "In California, we’re not silent. You’re not silent, you’re not hunkering down. This state is providing a different narrative, an operational model, a policy blueprint for others to follow."

That policy blueprint, and achievements that Newsom promised when he last campaigned, have not always yielded the kinds of sweeping change that he hoped for.

Newsom pointed to minimum wage increases for fast food and health care workers, and the launch of California's generic prescription drug label, CalRX — which began selling $11 insulin pens this month — as achievements benefiting working people and low-income families. He also noted that there has been a 9% year-over-year decrease in the number of unsheltered homeless people statewide, though he admitted that progress on that front has been frustratingly slow.

Newsom went on the offensive about housing, and the practice of private-equity firms buying up homes and renting them out.

"I think it’s shameful that we allow private-equity firms in Manhattan to become some of the biggest landlords here in our cities in California," Newsom said, echoing some similar statements by Trump this week, who threatened to ban this practice by institutional investors.

And while California cities are permitting about 40,000 more new homes per year than it did when Newsom took office — 110,000 compared to 70,000 in 2019 — the numbers still fall far short of broader statewide goals. As the Chronicle notes, and as they've previously noted, Newsom set a bold early campaign goal of 3.5 million new homes by 2025, and we're only, maybe, about one-third of the way there — 2025 numbers have yet to come in from local governments.

No doubt, Newsom sought to use the speech to further his soft-launch of his still unannounced candidacy for president in 2028. But, as Assembly Republican Leader Heath Flora (R-Modesto) tells the Chronicle, "I was happy that he kept it to California, for the most part."

As Cal Matters notes, Newsom mostly skirted talk about a projected $18 billion budget deficit this year, only saying that the state had taken in $42 billion more in tax revenue than was expected in 2025, thanks in part to the AI boom.

You can watch the full address below. It goes on for about an hour.