Newsom Handily Beats Back Recall Effort Spurred By Pandemic Policies
A strong majority of Californians rejected a measure to remove Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom from office. Newsom cast the victory as a vote of confidence for his handling of the covid crisis and support for other positions like abortion rights.
Los Angeles Times:
Newsom Soundly Defeats California Recall Attempt
California Gov. Gavin Newsom survived a historic recall election Tuesday, winning a major vote of confidence during a COVID-19 pandemic that has shattered families and livelihoods and tested his ability to lead the state through the largest worldwide health crisis in modern times. The recall offered Republicans their best chance in more than a decade to take the helm of the largest state in the union. But the effort was undercut when Newsom and the nation’s leading Democrats, aided by visits to California by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, portrayed the campaign to oust the governor as a “life and death” battle against “Trumpism” and far-right anti-vaccine activists. (Willon, Luna and Wick, 9/14)
Sacramento Bee:
‘We Said Yes To Ending This Pandemic.’ Gavin Newsom Makes Victory Speech In Sacramento
Gov. Gavin Newsom made an appearance in Sacramento on Tuesday less than an hour after polls closed to declare victory over the Republican-led recall effort to oust him from office. ... “I want to focus on what we said yes to as a state,” he said. “We said yes to science. We said yes to vaccines. We said yes to ending this pandemic. We said yes to all those things that we hold dear as Californians and I would argue as Americans. Economic justice, social justice, racial justice, environmental justice are the values where California has made so much progress — all of those things were on the ballot this evening.” During his brief victory speech, Newsom also denounced Trumpism. (Bojorquez, 9/14)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Voters Resoundingly Defeat Recall Of California Gov. Gavin Newsom
Over the summer, some public polling found that likely voters were nearly evenly split on the recall, a consequence of Republican voters being far more engaged in the election. Newsom’s messaging did not appear to be resonating with his Democratic base. But that dynamic shifted during the past two months, as the delta variant caused another surge of the coronavirus in California and conservative talk radio host Larry Elder emerged as a convenient foil for Newsom. (Koseff, 9/14)
AP:
5 Takeaways After Newsom Survives California Recall Attempt
Republicans intended the recall to be a referendum on Democrats’ rule of California, and the homelessness, crime, high housing costs and energy problems that accompanied it. But in a bit of political ju-jitsu — and with the help of the spreading delta variant — Newsom turned it into a referendum on Republicans’ opposition to precautions against the coronavirus. The Republicans running to replace Newsom opposed mask and vaccine mandates, and the California governor was happy to highlight that. Newsom aired an ad calling the recall “a matter of life and death” and accusing the top Republican candidate, talk radio host Larry Elder, of “peddling deadly conspiracy theories.” (Riccardi, 9/15)
