VP, POTUS to campaign against recall + Asking for more time for redistricting + Recall info

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

NEWSOM BRINGS IN THE BIG GUNS

Via Lara Korte...

With less than a week to go before his recall fate is sealed, Gov. Gavin Newsom is getting a boost from Washington D.C.

Today, Vice President Kamala Harris travels back to her roots to campaign for Newsom in the Bay Area. Harris is making up for a previously scheduled trip that was canceled in light of the deaths of more than a dozen troops during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

For updates on the VP’s visit today, follow Capitol Alert and The Bee’s Sophia Bollag, who will be on the ground for the Harris event.

Also planning to visit California is the commander-in-chief himself. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday that President Joe Biden plans to visit California “early next week” on Newsom’s behalf.

Newsom was in the Bay on Tuesday, meeting volunteers at a phone bank in the Mission District. The governor once again appealed to Latino voters, and bashed frontrunning Republican Larry Elder’s comments on abortion and his suggestion that former slave owning families may be owed reparations.

REDISTRICTING REFORM ADVOCATES URGE SUPREME COURT FOR DEADLINE EXTENSION

California civic groups wrote an amicus letter to the California Supreme Court, calling on the state’s highest court to extend the redistricting deadline to Jan. 14, 2022 in order to allow the California Citizens Redistricting Commission more time to do its work.

The Supreme Court in July 2020 extended the commission’s deadline to Dec. 15, in order to account for a four-month delay in the release of U.S. Census Bureau redistricting data. The Census Bureau then released its data on Aug. 12, 12 days after the Supreme Court anticipated in its original order.

Rather than push the deadline to Dec. 27, smack in the middle of the winter holiday season, groups including California Common Cause, the League of Women Voters of California, former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and others are urging the high court to push the deadline to January, so that the public has every opportunity to participate in the process.

“When I campaigned for redistricting reform as governor, my vision was to bring people together across party lines to terminate gerrymandering. To fulfill this goal and to give Californians the full representation they deserve, the redistricting process must be fair and transparent. That means giving the citizen commissioners the time they deserve to make careful decisions for the people of California,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

You can read the letter for yourself here.

(ALMOST) LAST CALL ON THE RECALL

Californians have less than a week to fill out and turn in their ballots for the election to recall Gov. Newsom.

Still not sure who to vote for? Be sure to check out our voter guide!

STILL not sure? Why not check out these articles which lay out the candidates positions on some of the biggest issues facing Californians. See how the candidates would handle the state’s COVID-19 response, see where they stand on housing and homelessness, and find out their positions on how to tackle the drought and wildfires.

And don’t forget to check out our recall-related fact checks, including:

• Will voting ‘yes’ on the California recall elect an ‘anti-vaccine Republican?’

• Did Gavin Newsom cast doubt on the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine?

• Are Trump Republicans who contested the 2020 election behind the Newsom recall?

• Is Gavin Newsom right that a recall leader suggested microchipping immigrants?

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I am deeply honored to represent the 18th Assembly District. Our district has a long history of bold, progressive, leadership and I plan to continue this work in our diverse district.”

- Newly sworn in Assemblywoman Mia Bonta, D-Alameda, via Twitter.

Best of the Bee:

• A federal judge has blocked a Northern California county’s ban on trucks delivering water to Hmong cannabis farmers, saying it raises “serious questions” about racial discrimination and leaves the growers without a source of water for basic sanitation, vegetable gardens and livestock, via Ryan Sabalow.

• The lead proponent of the effort to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom has COVID-19, via Lara Korte.

• The unemployment benefits that ended Saturday won’t be revived anytime soon in California, via David Lightman, Jeong Park and Hannah Wiley.