Gavin Newsom recall has enough signatures to reach California ballot

The effort to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom has enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s office reported Monday, marking a significant milestone in the more-than-year-long campaign to remove the head of the nation’s most populous state.

Recall supporters needed to turn in 1.5 million valid signatures to trigger an election, and organizers say they were able to collect more than 2.1 million by the March 17 deadline. Weber’s officer reported that more than 1.6 million signatures have been found to be valid.

Recall opponents now have a 30-day window wherein signers are allowed to withdraw their names from petitions. Unless Democrats can muster a huge withdrawal movement, the recall is likely to result in a special election come this fall.

The governor’s allies on Monday said they’d defeat the recall and characterized the campaign to unseat him three years into his term as a partisan attack on the Democratic governor.

“The Republican recall — backed by partisan, pro-Trump, and far-right forces — threatens our values as Californians and seeks to undo the important progress we’ve made under Gov. Newsom — fighting COVID, supporting families who are struggling, protecting our environment, common-sense gun safety laws,” Stop the Republican Recall campaign manager Juan Rodriguez said. “There’s simply too much at stake — we will win.”

Orrin Heatlie, the former Yolo County law enforcement officer who is the lead proponent of the recall movement, said he’s thrilled at the success of what he calls a “grassroots effort.”

“California needs a change in direction. This is a monumental period in our state’s history that people are going to have an opportunity to vote on what they feel is the proper course for California to take, and it’s wonderful to be able to bring that opportunity to them,” he told The Sacramento Bee.

Recall campaign began before COVID-19

Recall signers expressed varied reasons for wanting to remove the governor.

The original petition, filed in February 2020, notes concerns about Newsom’s progressive policies on immigration and his failure to alleviate the state’s growing homelessness problem.

But Newsom has also faced vitriol over the past year for his policies surrounding the pandemic. His decision to issue stay-at-home orders, restrict business activity, and halt indoor church gathering have angered conservatives up and down the state. Although the movement is largely backed by Republicans, organizers say about one-third of signatures come from Democrats and independents.

California is one of the few states that allows gubernatorial recalls, and compared to other states, the bar for removal in California is relatively low. State law requires petitioners to collect signatures equal to 12% of the voter turnout in the last election within 160 days before an election is schedule. In October, a judge granted the recall a 120-day extension in light of COVID-19 restrictions.

Gov. Newsom’s approval rating

Virtually anyone can run in a California recall election, and political watchers say dozens could enter the race. During the 2003 recall of Gov. Gray Davis, 135 candidates ran. That year, voters chose to recall Davis and replace him with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

No Republican has won statewide office in California since Schwarzenegger’s reelection in 2006.

Several Republican candidates have already announced plans to enter the Newsom recall race, including former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, 2018 gubernatorial candidate John Cox, and former Congressman Doug Ose.

Celebrities could also get in on the action. Olympian-turned-reality-TV-star Caitlyn Jenner, of “Keeping up with the Kardashians,” announced that she plans to run.

Newsom mostly dismissed the recall in its early stages, but in recent months has launched a full offensive campaign to delegitimize and paint the effort as a “power grab” led by Republicans. Some of the recall supporters and leaders have expressed anti-mask, anti-vaccine beliefs. One used Holocaust imagery to criticize the governor.

Newsom’s approval rating among Californians is holding steady, according to a recent poll from the Public Policy Institute of California, which found 53% of voters approve of his job performance. That number is virtually unchanged from his 52% approval rating in February 2020.

The same poll found more than half, 56%, of voters would keep Newsom in a recall, while 40% said they would vote yes and 5% said. they were unsure.

This story was originally published April 26, 2021 at 3:12 PM.