Gavin Newsom faces election recall as campaign collects 1,509,000 signatures

An effort to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom has reached the minimum number of signatures needed to trigger a recall election, organizers of the recall campaign said on Friday.

Recall that Gavin Newsom was launched last year and collected more than 900,000 signatures at the end of December. The recall campaign said it had collected more than 1.4 million signatures as of early February and collected a total of 1,509,000 signatures by Friday.

State law states that a recall campaign must garner the support of a specific number of registered voters in order to trigger a recall. In this case, the valid signatures of 1,495,709 California voters – a number equivalent to 12% of the vote cast in the election Newsom won to become governor – from at least five counties were to sign the petition by the deadline. campaign march.

Once the California Secretary of State determines that the campaign has collected enough valid signatures, a recall election will be scheduled to allow voters to decide whether they want Newsom to stay in power or not.

Recall that Gavin Newsom has set a goal of collecting 1.8 million signatures in anticipation that some may not succeed in meeting with the office of the Secretary of State.

This isn’t the first recall campaign Newsom has faced since being elected governor with almost 62% of the vote in 2018, but it is the campaign that has gained the most attention. The effort is being fueled in part by frustrations surrounding the restrictions put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic. Organizers also cite the Democratic governor’s positions on pre-COVID-19 issues, including gun laws and immigration policies, as reasons for their efforts.

Organizers say on the campaign’s website that the effort is not led by a particular political party, and they bristled with claims that supporters of the movement have ties to QAnon and other groups. far right. Instead, organizers say the movement is supported by voters from various political backgrounds and represents a “mass uprising” in California.

Randy Economy, a senior advisor for the campaign, said Newsweek in December, this recall effort is remarkable for him because he enjoys the support of Californians who are generally not involved in politics.

The recall campaign is “kind of a perfect tidal wave of citizens who have never done anything in politics before – ever, and I really mean it – who have decided to take their chances,” Economy said. Newsweek at the time. The frustrations voters feel after months of living with the pandemic and the restrictions introduced at the state level are a big part of the campaign’s success, he said. Newsom’s presence at a dinner at the French Laundry last November, which violated state recommendations to meet with people outside of his home, only inflamed those already frustrated with the lockdowns.

On the last day of 2020, Economy said Newsweek that he believed this recall campaign would be successful. “I think it’s different this time,” he said. “Sometimes in politics and in life you have this unique opportunity for the average resident to make a difference. It’s that moment in California history.”

The economy told KTTV on Thursday that the recall campaign was on track to reach 1.5 million signatures. The effort was further assisted by the National GOP, which invested $ 250,000 to help remove Newsom from office.

Ten recall campaigns have qualified for a recall election in California since 1913, only six of which resulted in the targeted official being impeached, according to the California Secretary of State’s website. The only California governor to be successfully recalled was Gray Davis, a Democrat who was impeached in 2003 and replaced by former Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Davis said Newsweek last month, he believes Newsom will win re-election in 2022.

Newsweek has contacted Newsom’s office for comment and will update this article with any response.