Did Jerry Brown underperform in 2010?

[President Johnson]

From today's perspective, it almost looks like he did underperform in 2010. He won with 53.8% of the vote, a roughly 13 point margin over Meg Whitman. Newsom's race was even closer and Harris just barely made it. All while Republicans didn't flip a single House seat despite the Tea Party wave and while Arnie was suffering from low approvals.

Shouldn't Brown (and the other statewide Democrats) have won by more?

[President Johnson]

It was a Republican wave year, and it was the last time the GOP made a serious effort to win a major statewide office.

The second part is an important point, though the Republican wave stopped in California. They didn't flip a single seat in the state, just as in 2014. 2006 was also a wave year and Arnie handily won reelection.

[President Johnson]

The people who seek an excuse to dump on Harris some more, obviously don't remember that the AG race started with Cooley as the favorite. Her win was actually a moderate upset.

Its worth noting that Harris had horrible numbers in 2014 too.

She won by roughly the same than Newsom as lt. governor, 57.5% to 42.5%. Jerry Brown won a clean 60-40%.

[President Johnson]

Not at all.  He won Del Norte County, something not done before [quite possibly since Brown 2.0] or since.

I looked it up, Del Northe voted Republican in every gubernatorial election since. Although 2014, 2018 and 2022 were bigger wins for the Democrats statewide than 2010 was.