He got elected mainly because the left and teachers union hated the previous governor, so he’s a wacko leftist, who basically got elected because he wasn’t the other guy, not because anyone believed or backed him.... and so we are stuck with him and his belief he’s got some sort of leftist mandate.
Another factor as I recall is the previous governor (piss be upon him) put very little effort into getting re-elected after putting even less effort into taking charge when he sat in the big chair.
Like all he wanted to do was punch a political ticket.