Ric Grenell listens during a news conference in front of the Clark County Electoral Division, Thursday, November 5, 2020, in Las Vegas. | AP Photo / John Locher
WASHINGTON – Richard Grenell, a fierce ally of former President Donald Trump and a firm figure in MAGA politics, is interviewing campaign strategists and laying the groundwork for a possible run-up to the California governor as the government intends To recall Gavin Newsom, according to a Republican continue. strategist who spoke to Grenell about his plans.
The strategist said Grenell, the former ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence in the Trump administration, told him he intended to announce his campaign as soon as the recall effort qualifies for the vote, as stated it probably looks.
A second strategist said Friday Grenell is also talking to major donors in Southern California about a potential run.
The recall campaign, if it qualifies, will become inhospitable in Democratic California, which has been revoked in the years since Democratic Gov. Gray Davis was re-elected in 2003. appears to have a limited constituency in a state that Trump lost by nearly 30 percentage points in November.
Yet Newsom’s public approval rating declined amid the coronavirus pandemic. And Grenell’s revelations reflect the intense national interest of Republicans in recalling the Democratic governor of the country’s most populous state. The Republican National Committee is spending $ 250,000 in the effort.
Grenell said in an email that “this is not true” that he had begun interviews with campaign staff and strategists and that he was preparing to announce a run if the recall qualifies. A source close to him said that ‘it could still go on. ‘
Grenell’s entry into the race could immediately reorganize the Republican field in the recall campaign, diverting conservative support from other candidates and breaking Newsom’s opponents along MAGA lines. And that could help Newsom define the campaign against him as a product of Trump allies.
“It would just be a disaster,” said Rob Stutzman, a Republican political strategist in California who criticized Trump. “It’s a great gift to Newsom to be able to set up the recall as Trumpists against him.”
A candidate from Grenell, he said, ‘increases the chance that the memory will just become a dead letter. ‘
However, it is possible that Grenell could galvanize basic Republicans in the state. More than 100 candidates replaced Davis in 2003. If the repeal is eligible, the candidate may agree or be more this year. And with a field so large, a candidate who can organize even a relatively small portion of the electorate can be successful.
While California’s overall voters strongly disapprove of Trump, he remains popular among Republicans and earns more than six million votes in California. A Trump approval played a crucial role in Republican John Cox’s vault in the 2018 general election, where he resoundingly lost to Newsom.
Grenell’s bona fides with the GOP base could exceed those of Cox. Former San Diego councilor Carl DeMaio, who regularly talks to Grenell and hosts a radio program with a substantial conservative audience, said ‘the lines are burning’ when Grenell is involved. DeMaio, a critic of former San Diego GOP mayor Kevin Faulconer – who has already announced his candidacy – said Grenell “would get the base to show up in California” and argued that Grenell’s stupidity was a can appeal to some independents. And beyond stimulating the rise, DeMaio said, Grenell could order a larger fundraising network.
“You have a potential candidate here who, if elected, will have more names than the other names being considered,” DeMaio said, predicting that Grenell could quickly raise substantial sums by using on Trump’s donor list. “He could actually compete with the Democrat money machine in California.”
Faulconer’s campaign declined to comment on Grenell on Friday. Cox, who is also in the running, said in a prepared statement: ‘I like Rick and his international service to the country speaks for itself. Regardless of who may participate, my effort is focused on the solutions desperately sought by Californians by the political establishment class like Gavin Newsom and Kevin Faulconer. ‘
Dan Newman, Newsom’s chief political adviser, said in a text message: “No surprise – Grenell, [conservative commentator Mike] Cernovich, Trump, Faulconer, Cox … it’s a Republican reminder of its rotten partisan core. ”
Grenell, who publicly pumped Newsom, was encouraged to run by major Trump donors.
In late January, Grenell wrote a report on Fox News attacking Newsom’s management of the coronavirus pandemic, saying “he cannot be recalled quickly enough.” And when Biden’s White House weighed in on the recall this week, Grenell posted on Twitter, “White House is now panicking about the @ recallgavin2020 campaign. Meanwhile, schools closed, gyms closed, churches closed, restaurants just outdoors, vaccine distribution terrible, homelessness out of control, eclipses – Gavin’s incompetence will be on the ballot. ”
Grenell, a well-known among Donald Trump loyalists, has been an ardent defender of Trump’s nationalist policies and a reliable controversial Twitter presence, and has criticized reporters and Democrats. Grenell, a former adviser to UN Ambassador John Bolton, also worked for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012. Fox News reported in August that he had joined the Republican National Committee as a senior adviser focusing on LGBTQ outreach.
Organizers seem to be collecting memories close to the collection of the 1.5 million valid signatures they need to be eligible by mid-March. If they are successful, the recall measure could go to voters later this year.