When Gavin Newsom briefly stopped by Salinas Friday, the gubernatorial front-runner said the first thing he noticed exiting Highway 101 onto Market Street was the amount of people panhandling and in tents.

"I experienced something that I experience in every single community in California," he said. "It's no longer a coastal issue. It's certainly not just a San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Monica issue anymore."

Newsom, the current lieutenant governor and former San Francisco mayor, launched his Blue Bus Tour earlier this week to help win key house and state districts across California.

He said the state's defining issue is wealth inequality, pointing to California's highest poverty rate in the country. It's estimated that 7.46 million Californians live in poverty.

And in the heart of Monterey County's $4.4 billion-dollar agriculture industry, nearly one in five Salinas residents live in poverty, census data found.

In the June Primary, Newsom led the governor's race alongside Republican John Cox. The Democrat garnered more than 37 percent of Monterey County's vote then, just less than double Cox's share.

July's Public Policy Institute of California poll had Newsom with a 24-point lead against Cox among likely voters.

Newsom's tour ends tomorrow in Orange and San Diego counties, an area with many congressional districts that could swing Democrat.

However, inside the hot, crowded campaign office of 30th Assembly district candidate Robert Rivas, his focus was not on campaign issues or Cox so much as it was on electing other Democratic candidates with just over 50 days left until Election Day.

Assemblywoman Anna Caballero, now running for California's 12th Senate district, appeared alongside Newsom in the Central Valley and again joined him in Salinas.

She said victories for her and other Democrats will be reflective of a "wave" first in California and on to other parts of the U.S.

While California's 12th Senate district is overwhelmingly Latino and has voted Democrat in the last two presidential elections, it went Republican in previous state Senate races – including when Caballero narrowly lost in 2010 to current Senator Anthony Cannella.

The rural seat, stretching from Salinas east to Ceres and south to Kingsburg, will likely determine Democrats' super-majority in the Senate.

Caballero said she was concerned that Newsom, the progressive candidate, would not play well in her district, but his background as a businessman and winegrower helps him understand the area's issues.

"It was really important for me to be able to have that conversation with him," she added. "I think he has a real understanding of what it's going to take."

And Rivas, currently a San Benito County supervisor, is seeking to replace Caballero in the Democratic-leaning district as a more progressive candidate. He faces off against Republican Neil Kitchens on Nov. 6.

Susan Betz, a 75-year-old Morgan Hill resident and registered independent, said she was there to hear Rivas speak.

She wants candidates to push back against President Donald Trump's policies.

"I think protecting the kinds of rights that the federal government is fighting against," Betz said. "California is now fighting on many issues against the federal government."

A win for Rivas would help Assembly Democrats maintain a two-thirds majority as well.

Democratic supporters in attendance said they were concerned about actions at the federal level and wanted state candidates to push back.

Salinas resident Eric Quigley attended with his wife, and wanted down-ticket Democrats to help flip the U.S. Congress, which is currently Republican-controlled in both houses.

"I believe in this effort," he added. "Overall, our society moves together with this group, but it's a give and take, too."

A handful of protesters stood outside, at one point using a microphone that could be heard inside Rivas' campaign office.

"He is exactly the wrong thing for the state of California," said Joe Vierra of Salinas. "For power, he will say and do anything rather than protecting the citizens of this state."

He protested because of his concern over Newsom's positions on the sanctuary state law, regulation and same-sex marriage, which Newsom had supported early as mayor but has been legalized by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Still, Newsom said his tour is meant to understand rural, agricultural communities that Rivas and Caballero seek to represent.

"I'm looking at a culturally competent way of addressing this geographically because one size doesn't fit all," he stated. "Each community requires different interventions, different strategies. That's why we're on this bus tour building relationships, trying to understand the nuances and the challenges of these communities."

Staff Writer Eduardo Cuevas can be reached at (831) 269-9363 or ecuevas@thecalifornian.com. Follow on Twitter @eduardomcuevas.