Californians voted to reject a recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday. As of 8:50 p.m. Tuesday evening, CNN, NBC, CBS and ABC have all projected the anti-recall option had surpassed a threshold of minimum votes to keep the governor in office.
The special election on whether or not to recall Newsom was brought about by a petition launched in Feb. 2020. It cited high taxes, homelessness and Newsom’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as a basis for recall.
Then California Secretary of State Alex Padilla approved the petitions for circulation in June of last year. In April 2021, Padilla’s successor Shirley Weber announced that the effort had gained sufficient signatures to qualify for the September ballot.
Early polling suggested that the election might be a tight one, with Republican frontrunner Larry Elder gaining traction last month in his campaign to replace the governor.
Political analysts speculated that high turnout among Democrats would be key for a Newsom victory. Polls taken closer to election day were rosier for the governor, suggesting that early mail-in ballots might reflect necessary turnout levels among anti-recall voters.
Newsom will remain in Sacramento through 2023. Elder has indicated that he intends to stay in the political spotlight, perhaps running again for the governor’s seat in two years.
“I’m not leaving the stage,” he told KNX earlier this month.
