Former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer is hitting out against the effort to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom, blasting next week's election as "cynical" and "costly."
Boxer, a Democrat who represented the state for four terms in the Senate from 1993-2017, ripped Republicans' push to remove Newsom from office during an interview Friday, four days prior to the statewide gubernatorial election. She expressed confidence he would keep his job amid recent polls showing a majority of likely voters want Newsom to remain governor.
"This is such a cynical election," Boxer said Friday on KCBS Radio’s "The State of California," "because in one year's time, there is going to be a full-throated gubernatorial election. So, if these Republicans were sincere, they would work with us to solve all our problems now and then run their best candidate then."
Efforts to recall to Newsom predate the COVID-19 pandemic, and his highly publicized and oft-criticized decision to attend a private dinner party at Napa Valley restaurant French Laundry in violation of the state's own guidelines to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
There have been six attempts to recall Newsom since he took office in 2019, and a February 2020 petition gathered the necessary signatures to put the recall on the ballot. That petition, approved last June, had its deadline extended from Nov. 17, 2020 to March 17, 2021 after a Superior Court judge agreed with recall organizers that the pandemic impacted their ability to gather signatures.
In order to move forward, California law requires recall petitions to gather signatures equaling 12% of the votes cast in the previous gubernatorial election. With the state days away from its second gubernatorial recall this century, Boxer on Friday said she agreed with the growing chorus of critics arguing it’s time for the state to change its recall rules.
"If someone has done something really sinister … or is very ill, that’s a different situation," Boxer said. "But this particular recall mode, which is outlined in our state constitution which makes it hard to change, is just, 'Hey, you just get a certain number of signatures, and you have this costly recall.' "
In July, the California Department of Finance estimated it would cost the state $276 million to hold the recall election on Sept. 14. Had the recall been held on June 7, 2022 during the next regularly scheduled statewide election, it would’ve cost the state $90.6 million.
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