In a Sept. 14 election, California voters will decide whether to recall Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and replace him with another candidate, according to the lieutenant governor.
Weber stated in late April that the organizer of the recall petition had collected more than the requisite 1.5 million verified signatures, despite the fact that the signatures had only recently been formally confirmed.
On Thursday, the California Department of Finance predicted that the recall election will cost $276 million.
According to recent polls, Newsom appears to be on his way to comfortably defeat the recall campaign.
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, 55 percent of Californians approve of the way Newsom is managing his job in general, and 64 percent approve of his reaction to COVID specifically.
Newsom’s team has slammed the recall as a political, Republican-led endeavor that is a waste of public funds.
“This Republican recall is a naked attempt by Trump Republicans to grab control in California — powered by the same Republicans who refused to accept the results of the presidential election and are now pushing voter suppression laws across the country,” Juan Rodriguez, the leader of the Newsom-aligned group “Stop The Republican Recall,” said in a statement in response to the date being set.
“The absurdity of this suit is almost surreal,” Orrin Heatlie, the chief proponent of the recall effort, said in a statement Thursday, while Mike Netter, another proponent of the recall effort, blasted Newsom, saying, “This Governor is so focused on identity politics that it is that important to him to actually sue his own appointed Secretary of State to demand she override a revocation.”
Heatlie and Netter co-founded the California Patriot Coalition, which plans to intervene in the case next week.
Despite the fact that the recall organizers claim to be nonpartisan, Republicans have rallied behind it, including the California Republican Party’s chairwoman, who branded Newsom the “worst governor in California history” in a statement released after the date was chosen.
San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, Newsom’s 2018 opponent John Cox, and reality personality and former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner are among the prominent Republicans in the campaign to succeed him.
Davis’ approval rating was substantially lower than Newsom’s throughout his time in office, according to PPIC polls. Over 70% of California voters disapproved of Davis in five surveys taken over nine months leading up to the 2003 election. In addition, the state is considerably more Democratic today than it was in 2003.