The California Republican Party voted on Saturday not to endorse a candidate in the upcoming Sept. 14 recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Though the party officially supports the recall effort, it has declined to throw its support to any particular campaign in the race, which includes those of conservative radio personality Larry Elder, former San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer, conservative activist John H. Cox, and celebrity athlete Caitlyn Jenner.
The motion to table an endorsement vote was supported by 90 percent of delegates, according to The Sacramento Bee.
Republican National Committee member Shawn Steel, who initiated the motion along with fellow RNC member Harmeet Dhillon, called Newsom “the worst governor, not only in California history, but even before California became a state.”
But he reasoned that endorsing any one of the candidates in the race at this stage may depress turnout among Republicans to Newsom’s advantage.
Candidates polling behind frontrunner Larry Elder have agreed. “Ever since the close of candidate filing, it has become clear an endorsement of one candidate over another would only distract from that goal,” Kevin Faulconer’s campaign wrote in an email to supporters.
Newsom’s campaign has been keeping a comparatively low profile, Jack Pitney, professor of government at Claremont McKenna College told KNX.
Pitney believes the Newsom campaign is limiting outreach to Democratic voters by way of more direct messaging, like SMS texts, as it “doesn’t want to motivate the people that’d vote against [the governor].”
Political analysts have predicted turnout to be one of the key factors in any hypothetical victory scenario for California Republicans. A possible enthusiasm gap between Republican and Democratic voters puts the Newsom incumbency on thin ice, said UC Berkeley pollster Mark DiCamillo, within a margin as narrow as three points.