Signatures Goal Met to Trigger Recall Election Against California Governor Newsom

The non-partisan ‘Recall Gavin Newsom’ campaign which was launched in late 2020 has reportedly surpassed the 1,495,709 votes necessary to trigger a recall election of California Governor Gavin Newsom, in fact achieving 1,509,000 New votes on Fri., February 12th. 

The necessary 1,495,709 number was calculated as 12% of the number of votes cast in the 2018 election which got Newsom elected originally. 

The recall campaign still faces a few hurdles before an election is officially docketed. For one thing, the California Secretary of State must determine that the recall campaign received legitimate votes that can be verified and at present, there is speculation that if submitted today, the recall campaign would not pass muster.

On that issue, however, the official deadline for submitting the recall campaign is March 10th: that is just under a month’s worth of time, and so the campaign will indeed garner a significant number of more votes, so it seems highly likely at this time that the recall election will take place. 

To be on the safe side, the recall campaign has set the goal of achieving 1.8 – 2 million votes total, and with the momentum of the campaign so far that goal seems to be achievable.

Indeed, the powers that be seem to be preparing for the fight ahead, as the Federal GOP has committed $250,000 on Feb. 12th to the campaign as it enters the home stretch. 

It is interesting to note, also, that this will have been the sixth attempt to remove Newsom via recall. Indeed, the fact there have been so many attempts to remove the governor might’ve been why the political establishment and mainstream media didn’t take this latest attempt seriously at first, although they are now. 

What should be noted is that the last time a Democratic governor in California was successfully recalled it did result in a Republican being elected. Back in 2003 when Governor Gray Davis was recalled Arnold Schwarzenegger blew out his Democratic opponent Cruz Bustamante by a margin of 17.1 percent.

This latest attempted recall seems to have gained steam based on what has largely been recognized as Newsom’s botched handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has received heavy criticism due to highly controversial decisions made by the governor which have been blamed by many commentators as being the reason for the rapidly declining economic situation in that state. 

While California has been seen as a beleaguered state for several years over various metrics, it seems Newsom’s botched handling of COVID, in particular, is the straw that has broken the camel’s back, as numerous business, public figures, as well as just regular people have begun leaving California, in a movement termed the ‘California Exodus.’