California Governor Newsom defeats Republican recall effort
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[September 15, 2021]
By Sharon Bernstein
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California
Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday handily beat back a Republican campaign
to oust him from office, sending a decisive message that voters in the
deeply Democratic state supported his policies for tackling COVID-19,
immigration and crime.
Newsom, who won his first term in 2018 by a landslide, again claimed a
resounding victory in the special recall election. That means he will
remain in office through his term ending in January 2023 and see his
chances significantly bolstered in next year's regularly scheduled
election.
With 58% of precincts reporting late Tuesday, Newsom was ahead by 32
percentage points, with 66% of voters saying he should stay in office
and 34% saying he should be removed.
"I'm humbled and grateful to the millions and millions of Californians
that exercised their fundamental right to vote," Newsom said in a
victory speech Tuesday night in the state capital of Sacramento.
His win and the high turnout in Tuesday's election came as a relief to
national Democrats, who already were bracing for a tough fight in the
2022 elections that will decide control of Congress. A loss in one of
the party's stronghold states would have set off alarms across the
country, particularly given the leading Republican challenger was a
supporter of former President Donald Trump with a track record of
controversial statements about women and minorities.
Newsom and Democratic leaders including President Joe Biden
characterized the recall effort, heavily supported by state and national
Republican groups, as part of a broader Republican agenda to oust
Democrats from power and expand conservative restrictions on voting,
civil rights and abortion.
"Economic justice, social justice, racial justice, environmental
justice, our values where California has made so much progress, all of
those things were on the ballot this evening," Newsom said in his
speech.
His decisive win holds lessons for national Democrats, who will be
fighting next year to keep majorities in Congress and seats in
governor's mansions, said Democratic strategist Steven Maviglio.
Newsom mounted a massive get-out-the-vote effort that mobilized
Democrats who typically are not engaged in off-year elections.
His embrace of strong COVID-19 protections such as mask and vaccination
mandates, and his messaging around the threat Trumpism posed to his
liberal policies, resonated with Democratic voters, Maviglio said.
"Nationalizing this election was the smartest move he could have made,"
said Maviglio, who was press secretary for former Governor Gray Davis.
Davis, a Democrat, remains the only California governor to lose his job
in a recall, having been replaced by action star Arnold Schwarzenegger
in a 2003 special election.
MYRIAD CHALLENGES
Newsom, a 53-year-old former lieutenant governor and San Francisco
mayor, faced just the second gubernatorial recall election in state
history despite 55 attempts. During his first term in office, he was
beset by challenges including the pandemic, homelessness, extreme
drought and severe wildfires.
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California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks after the polls close on the
recall election, at the California Democratic Party headquarters in
Sacramento, California, U.S., September 14, 2021. REUTERS/Fred
Greaves
Though he remained popular in the nation's most populous state,
conservatives angered by his liberal policies on LGBTQ rights,
immigration and crime mounted a campaign to unseat him.
The effort gained momentum amid the pandemic, with many Republicans
infuriated by Newsom's decision to close schools and require masks
and vaccinations against COVID-19. Backers of the recall collected
1.5 million signatures from Californians who favored holding a
special election.
The leading Republican gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder, a Black
radio talk show host and Trump supporter, had vowed to remove
requirements for COVID-19 vaccines and mask wearing.
In the days leading up to the recall vote, he and Trump pushed the
narrative that Democrats planned to steal the election. Elder
garnered nearly 45% of the vote on the portion of the ballot asking
which of 46 candidates should replace Newsom if he were recalled.
Elder conceded Tuesday night, telling supporters, "Let's be gracious
in defeat. We may have lost the battle, but we are going to win the
war."
That Newsom's political fate would ever have been in doubt might
seem unlikely in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans
2-to-1.
But Democrats worried that complacency among their voters could have
tilted the election toward motivated Republicans. Newsom tried to
boost Democratic turnout with a flurry of late campaigning after
mid-summer polls showed many in his party were not engaged in the
election and large numbers did not plan to vote.
He appeared in the final days of the race alongside Biden and Vice
President Kamala Harris, who formerly represented the state as a
U.S. senator and attorney general.
Malia Cohen, an elected member of the California Board of
Equalization, spent several days at the end of the campaign aiming
to raise turnout among African American voters. She said the effort
was key to Newsom's success.
"You can feel the energy," Cohen said on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento; Additional reporting
by Tim Reid in Los Angeles, Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad and Oceanside;
Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Jonathan Oatis, Kim
Coghill and Richard Pullin)
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