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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Newsom Recall Election Set for September

Lt Governor Eleni Kounalakis announced the recall election of Gavin Newsom will be set for mid-September.

Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis announced the recall election of Gavin Newsom will be set for mid-September. 

In this June 1, 2020 photo, California Gov. Gavin Newsom takes off his face mask before news conference after meeting leaders of the African American community in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, Pool, File)

(CN) --- California voters will decide the political fate of Governor Gavin Newsom on Sept. 14, earlier than what many political pundits in the Golden State had initially anticipated. 

The date for the recall election was announced by Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who is appointed to set the date under the California Constitution. Newsom's political opponents triggered the recall election after collecting enough signatures in the aftermath of outrage over the governor’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. They pointed to shuttered schools and businesses for much of the 15 months after the initial stay-at-home orders were handed down in March 2020. 

Despite the recall signatures, many pundits believe Newsom will survive the recall because of California’s status as a deep blue state coupled with the fact that recent polling indicates a majority of Californians approved of Newsom’s health-first approach to handling the pandemic. 

Still, Newsom complicated things with the French Laundry scandal, when he was photographed eating inside the famed Napa Valley restaurant at a time he was encouraging others to stay at home and issuing executive orders that closed a suite of small businesses across the state. 

“Many people aren’t happy about the extent of the shutdown orders and that is an ongoing vulnerability for Newsom,” Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College, told Courthouse News earlier this year. 

Newsom did relax or eliminate most coronavirus restrictions on June 15, which was met with derision by some who thought he acted too late and others who believed the restrictions should be kept in place until more of the state is vaccinated.

The recall will also have national implications, as many politicians view the fight as a proxy for the 2022 midterms when the GOP will be dedicated to winning back the House and the Senate after losing both during former president Donald Trump’s four-year stint.

Democrats and Newsom supporters have derided the recall effort as a costly and partisan exercise rendered unnecessary by the fact Newsom is already up for reelection in 2022.

Republicans and Newsom critics contend the state will save money by ousting the current governor and that his handling of the pandemic makes the matter urgent.

“Given Newsom’s track record, recalling him will save California billions,” Gus Portela, spokesman for former San Diego mayor and gubernatorial hopeful Kevin Faulconer, told The Associated Press.

Faulconer, a moderate Republican, is widely regarded as the candidate with the best chance of replacing Newsom. However, the odds favor Newsom keeping his seat. 

Republicans haven’t won a statewide race in California since 2006, and Trump’s recent stint was deeply unpopular in the Golden State and has tarnished the GOP brand for many of the state’s more moderate voters. 

Newsom has striven to paint the recall election as a partisan plot enacted by the very forces that many Californians decry. 

Republicans can win statewide races in deep blue states, as evidenced by Governors Charlie Baker in Massachusetts, Larry Hogan of Maryland and Chris Sununu of New Hampshire. But it is unclear whether any of the Republican candidates are capable of unseating Newsom, who remains popular in quarters of the state, particularly the populous urban parts. 

Nevertheless, Republicans continue to throw hats in the ring, buoyed by a perception that Californians are frustrated by coronavirus restrictions that were some of the strictest in the nation. 

Republican Assemblyman Kevin Kiley entered the race last week. John Cox, a businessman who lost handedly to Newsom in 2018, is also running, as is former Olympian and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner.

The filing deadline for replacement candidates in the recall election is July 16.

Follow Matthew Renda on Twitter

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