An attempt to recall California Govin Newsom has reached the minimum number of signatures needed to trigger a recall election, organizers behind the recall campaign announced Friday.
Recall that Gavin Newsom was launched last year and received more than 900,000 signatures by the end of December. According to the recall campaign, it collected more than 1.4 million signatures in early February and by Friday collected a total of 1,509,000 signatures.
According to state law, a revocation campaign must gain the support of a specific number of registered voters to bring about a revocation. In this case, valid signatures of 1,495,709 voters in California – a number equivalent to 12 percent of the votes Newsom cast to become governor – were needed from at least five counties to submit the petition by the March campaign deadline. to sign.
Once the California Secretary of State determines that the campaign has collected enough valid signatures, a by-election will be scheduled to allow voters to decide whether or not they want Newsom to remain in office.
Recall Gavin Newsom set a goal to collect 1.8 million signatures in anticipation that some would not succeed at the foreign minister’s office.
IRFAN KHAN / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
This is not the first recall campaign Newsom has faced since he was elected governor in 2018 with almost 62 percent of the vote, but it is the campaign that has received the most pull. The effort is fueled in part by frustrations surrounding restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Organizers also cite the reasons for their efforts by the Democratic governor’s stance on issues that preceded COVID-19, including gun laws and immigration policy.
The organizers say on the campaign’s website that the effort is not driven by one political party, and that they have made accusations that supporters of the movement have ties to QAnon and other far-right groups. Instead, organizers say the movement is supported by voters from diverse political backgrounds and that it is a ‘mass uprising’ in California.
Randy Economy, a senior campaign adviser, tells Newsweek in December, it is noteworthy for him to get this repeal attempt because it has support from Californians who do not usually get involved in politics.
The recall campaign is “a perfect tidal wave of citizens who have never done anything in politics before – and I really mean it – who have decided they want to cross this line,” Economy said. Newsweek at that point. An important part of the campaign’s success is the frustrations voters experience after months of living with the pandemic and the restrictions imposed at the state level, he said. Newsom’s attendance at a dinner at the French laundromat last November, which violated state recommendations to meet with individuals outside the household, ignited those already frustrated with the locks.
Economy said on the last day of 2020 Newsweek that he believed that this recall campaign would be successful. “I think it’s different this time,” he said. “Sometimes in politics and in life, you have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the average resident to make a difference. This is the moment in California history.”
Economy told KTTV on Thursday that the recall campaign could reach nearly 1.5 million signatures. The effort was further aided by the national GOP, which invested $ 250,000 to remove Newsom from office.
Ten recall campaigns have qualified for a California by-election since 1913, of which only six resulted in the removal of the intended official, according to the California State Secretary’s website. The only governor of California to be successfully recalled was Gray Davis, a Democrat who was removed in 2003 and replaced by former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Davis tells Newsweek last month that he believes Newsom will win re-election in 2022.
Newsweek has reached out to Newsom’s office for comment and will update this article with any response.