Gov. Gavin Newsom earned an easy victory in an attempted recall effort led by critics who disliked his politics and leveraged dissatisfaction with his pandemic decisions.
Californians voted “no” on the recall question, with 63.9 percent of voters totalling 5,840,283 deciding against removing Newsom from office. Only 3,297,145 voters voted “yes” to remove Newsom.
“I’m humbled and grateful to the millions and millions of Californians that exercised their fundamental right to vote and express themselves so overwhelmingly by rejecting the division, by rejecting the cynicism, by rejecting so much of the negativity that’s defined this country over the course of so many years,” said Newsom on election night.
Newsom was sworn in as California’s 40th governor on Jan. 7, 2019.
He was sworn in with the slogans “Courage for Change” and a promise of “bold leadership.”
Recall efforts started immediately after he was sworn in.
Reasons for recall included “unaffordable housing,” “record homelesness,” “rising crime,” “failing schools,” “independent contractors through out of work,” “exploding pension debt,” as well as a “locked down population while prisons were empty,” according to the Recall Gavin 2020 website at recallgavin2020.com, which was paid for by the California Patriot Coalition Recall Governor Gavin Newsom.
On Twitter, Newsom said this victory was a win for science, among other things.
“California voted NO to the recall and YES to…Science. Women’s rights. Immigrant rights. The minimum wage. The environment. Our future,” he wrote the day after the election.
Newsom finished his tweet thanking Californians.
This recall marks the second time in the state’s history that a California governor has faced recall.
An assortment of candidates challenged Newsom, including Caitlyn Jenner and billboard queen and minor celebrity Angelyne.
Conservative radio talk show host Larry Elder dominated the polls earning 47.6 percent of the total for people who filled in the second recall question. He gathered 2,970,670 votes, while his next two closest opposites only gathered 18.3 percent of the votes combined. This means runner up Kevin Paffrath earned 616,311 (9.9 percent) of the votes while Kevin Faulconer earned 532,741 (8.4 percent) votes.
Elder responded to defeat, indicating that he wasn’t done with politics.
“We lost the battle but we are surely going to win the war,” he said.