Watch: Gov. Gavin Newsom defends his COVID record in his State of the State speech

With a recall election looming, Gov. Gavin Newsom defended his record handling the coronavirus and touted new direct payments for struggling Californians in his State of the State address Tuesday evening.

Newsom touted California’s vaccination rollout, which had a rocky start but accelerated quickly, with more than 10.6 million vaccines administered, according to excerpts of his prepared speech given to media Tuesday afternoon. He will also promise to extend his administration’s focus on equity even after the pandemic.

“When this pandemic ends—and it will end soon—we’re not going back to normal,” he plans to say. “Normal was never good enough.”

Newsom gave his 2021 address at 6 p.m. from Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, a break from tradition for an address usually given at the Capitol during the day.

The speech, normally delivered to lawmakers in the Assembly chamber, will not have an in-person audience because of the coronavirus pandemic. Newsom chose Dodger Stadium because it was among the first mass-vaccination sites established in California and represents both loss and hope, Newsom spokeswoman Sahar Robertson said.

“To mark our path to a brighter future, the governor will deliver his address from the home of last year’s World Series champions, which has now become one of the nation’s largest vaccination sites,” Robertson said in a statement. “Stands once filled with roaring crowds are now silent and empty. The governor will deliver his address as the state expects to near 55,000 Californians who have been lost to COVID-19 – nearly the same number of empty seats in the stadium.”

During an event in Earlimart on Monday, Newsom said his State of the State address will be shorter than usual.

”This is not going to be a state of the state laden with policy announcements,” he said.

His message will be sober, he said, but also optimistic.

In the speech, Newsom will directly call out the $600 payments he approved last month for low-income California families, which are funded by the state and add to existing federal relief payments. Those payments are part of $7.6 billion in state stimulus he approved, including $2.6 billion in small business grants.

He also plans to promise that kids will soon be back in classrooms thanks to a reopening deal he recently brokered with lawmakers. The deal provides $2 billion in incentive funding to spur schools to return to in-person instruction, although it does not force classrooms to reopen.

“There’s nothing more foundational to an equitable society than getting our kids safely back into classrooms,” he plans to say, in acknowledgment of a school reopening deal he recently brokered with lawmakers. “We have turned the conversation from whether to reopen, to when. And that ‘when’ is now upon us.”

He’ll also address the state’s ongoing housing crisis. Last year, Newsom devoted his entire State of the State address to combating homelessness. The pandemic thwarted him from making good on his promise to make homelessness his top priority, but Newsom still launched two new programs — Project Roomkey and Project Homekey — that have housed many homeless people, even as many more people have lost their homes or are at risk of losing their homes because of the pandemic.

His speech comes as he faces a potential recall later this year. Recall advocates say they’ve collected enough signatures to trigger a special election to ask voters if they want to remove Newsom from office, but state and local officials have not yet verified the signatures the campaign says it has collected.

This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 5:38 PM.