Quinn Novick ’23 has decided to run for Governor of California. Before deciding on a future in politics, the Orange County native looked at his home state and decided that problems need to be fixed and not when he was finally “of age” to make the change. He plans to run in the near future.
“If you look at Congress, it’s mainly made up of people who are 70 and 80, and a lot of these people are quite literally not cognitively functioning, and I think that’s a relatively big problem. I’m serious, I’m serious. When you put youth, especially in government, it does a lot of stuff and benefits a lot of people. I’ve seen my city, my county, my state really go down the drain, and it’s really heartbreaking. From the fires in California or the homelessness, to the drug epidemic, and so on. We need to fix a lot of these problems, but these problems need to be fixed now and not when I’m 70 or 80,” said Novick.
Novick developed interests in international and political relations through his participation in Andover’s student Model UN club. In addition to his general passion for humanities, Novick specifically enjoys debating and negotiating especially when it comes to international politics.
“I’ve really been interested in humanities my whole life—everything from History, Politics, International relations. I think that Model UN is something that really spearheaded my interest in politics more broadly. How you learn to negotiate, interact, and debate with different countries was something I was really passionate about, and playing devil’s advocate was something really interesting to me. Also following the different political systems of different countries—for example, I’ve met kids around the world, and I’ve got to experience their different cultures. Following Indian politics or South Korean politics, or the politics of UAE; I think it was international politics that actually interested me first. Then I sort of went, how can I make a change in my local community and that’s how I went more domestic,” said Novick.
Looking ahead to his campaign for Governor, Novick is beginning to think about the logistics of what it would take to run. The process, he specified, would take many preliminary steps before officially beginning his campaign. One of his next goals is to be the leading ranked-choice voting person in California.
“I’m a part of the Libertarian Party of Orange County in California and over Spring Break, I had a really good sort of brunch with this group called CALRCV or California Ranked Voting Coalition, the leading ranked-choice voting person in California, and the Libertarian Treasurer of Orange County. Their goal is to bring ranked-choice voting (RCV) across the ballot, which means you rank your votes instead of a traditional vote. So it pretty much is like an instant runoff ballot and what that does is it allows third parties to win elections.”
Novick continued, “Once RCV gets passed, I’ll have a realistic shot at becoming the first third-party Governor in American history. I’ll work my way up through the 48th district in Orange County, then go more statewide in California, and eventually run for Governor. It’s really important [to note] that it’s not just Libertarians, but also the Green Party, Constitution Party, House Reform Party, and even Social Democrats. It’s for every third party, and it just benefits electoral competition by making districts more competitive, making politicians do their job; it’s a win-win for everyone no matter your political affiliation.”
In terms of his plans when running for Governor, Novick plans to focus more of his political efforts on sustainability, especially in California’s environment. One of his many ideas for increased sustainability includes the development of a hyperloop as a way of transport.
“I have a lot of plans as a big advocate of the environment, but one of the key things I would do is actually build a hyperloop. It sounds a bit ridiculous but it’s actually already built in Nevada, and I would actually contact Richard Branson and see how we could contract a hyperloop from Los Angeles to San Francisco. It [the hyperloop] would really reduce gas pollution in Los Angeles, reduce energy costs across California, and also reduce fracking and oil drilling across California. This would bring tens of hundreds of jobs to hard-working Americans and you could go from LA to San Francisco in roughly about half an hour actually with a hyperloop.”
Looking toward the immediate future, Novick emphasized the importance of ranked-choice voting as an integral part of his election trail for California Governor.
“For anyone reading this, make sure to support ranked-choice voting especially from or in California… Whether it’s the Forward Party, the Libertarian Party, or the Green Party, it doesn’t matter, whoever is supporting RCV is awesome in my book. I hope to see you on the ballot in ten years.”
