Mark your calendars for Sept. 14.
California voters will determine Gov. Gavin Newsom's fate in a special recall election that day, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis announced Thursday.
Kounalakis set the election date mere hours after the state Department of Finance estimated a special recall election would cost $276 million in a letter submitted to state officials.
The expedited timeline was made possible by state lawmakers waiving the 30-day waiting period last month, committing $215.2 million to the state's counties and $35 million to the secretary of state with Monday’s passage of Senate Bill 152.
Newsom was headed for a recall election – only the second of a sitting governor in state history – after Secretary of State Dr. Shirley Weber confirmed on June 23 that the over 1.7 million verified signatures calling for Newsom’s recall met the state’s threshold.
A recall was on as long as 1.5 million signatories remained. Only 43 removed their names, according to the secretary of state.
"I think it's very clear that the people have spoken, and that this recall is happening," Republican candidate Kevin Faulconer, one of 57 candidates to declare their intention to run in the recall, told KCBS Radio's Tom Lippi on Thursday.
"And this is really a movement that is powered by Californians from every community: Democrats, Republicans and Independents."
In May, 40% of Californians polled by the Public Policy Institute of California said they would vote to recall the governor. That was before state lifted the vast majority of its coronavirus-related restrictions on June 15, and this week's passage of a state budget of nearly $263 billion for the next two years.
The Department of Finance said Thursday that state counties estimated a special recall election would cost $243.6 million to hold, while the secretary of state estimated it would cost $32.4 million to administer the election.
Had the recall been held during the next statewide election on June 7, the gubernatorial primary, the counties and secretary of state combined to estimate a combined cost of $90.6 million.
California successfully recalled Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in 2003 during the only other statewide recall election. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, running as a Republican, was elected governor.
With a frontrunner yet to emerge, Republicans are hoping for a repeat, banking that wildfire season, lingering economic struggles from the COVID-19 pandemic and homelessness – among other issues – will lead to Newsom's recall in September.
"These issues have not gone away," former California congressman Doug Ose told Lippi on Thursday, "and we're going to have another long, hot summer of fires and blackouts ahead of us. Newsom needs to be held accountable for this, we'll make our case and the voters get to decide."
You can read the full text of Lt. Gov. Kounalakis’ declaration below.