The SF media are dreaming. The more credible polls show Gavin, at best, with the thinnest of leads. Unless the Dems can really turn out the vote, it's gonna be close, and Larry as the likely leader of the pack of replacements has a very good chance.

As for having a more sympathetic ear for the putative coal port in Eureka, a Republican governor isn't going to be able to help a lot. The laws are still there, and a hostile legislature, and the courts which don't (usually) make their own laws if some are written already, so having a loudmouth in the governor's seat for a year won't do much for the project's chances.