I Can't Recall Gavin, Con't

It looks increasingly likely that California Republicans have gotten enough signatures to recall Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, but Newsom still has a lot of time before any election could take place.

 

Newsom's popularity has tumbled in recent months as public unrest spread over long-running school and business closures, a still-unfolding unemployment benefits scandal and his decision to attend a party with friends and lobbyists at an opulent restaurant while telling residents to stay home.

In a shopping plaza parking lot in the Sacramento suburb of Rocklin, Shannon Hile and Celeste Montgomery collected signatures earlier this month, operating from under a small white folding tent with bright yellow and red signs saying “Recall Gavin Newsom.”

Around lunch hour, more than a dozen people walked or drove up to sign. The two women and another volunteer gave detailed instructions to signers, reminding them to use the address where they are registered to vote and to be careful to write within the lines.

Neither woman voted for Newsom in 2018, when the former San Francisco mayor was elected in a landslide. They’re both outraged over school closings.

Hile moved from San Diego to the Sacramento area to be closer to family after she struggled to simultaneously take care of her 1-year-old while helping her 7-year-old navigate virtual learning at home. Montgomery, 31, also a mother of two, put her 5-year-old son in a private school so he could attend in-person classes, straining the family budget.

Newsom “gave nobody any options to survive this," Hile lamented. "He cut you off from everything and it literally was like sink or swim.”

Two Republicans have announced their candidacies: Kevin Faulconer, the former Republican mayor of San Diego, and Republican businessman John Cox, who was defeated by Newsom in 2018.

Another name being discussed in GOP circles is former President Donald Trump’s then-acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell, who has not responded to requests for comment on a possible candidacy.

 

The election could cost California taxpayers $80 million, which is the entire point. Even if Newsom survives, he'll just face voters again next year, and he'll have to defend himself again.

Newsom loses either way, and so does California.