Government Gavin Newsom Speaks at News Conference in San Francisco, California | Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
OAKLAND – Is the attempt to oust Gavin Newsom over his pandemic record or Republican extremism?
It depends on what campaign you are asking for.
Fighters in California on Wednesday during a turbulent panel discussion predicted the likely themes of a recall campaign, their first big face since the election last month almost became certainty.
Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. Newsom’s defenders equate the protection of the Democratic governor with the defense of California liberalism against the invasion of Trumpism.
Newsom and his allies have long sought to portray the repeal as a biased distraction driven by the Conservative fringe, pointing out that organizers’ comments are reminiscent of the vaccination and a mockery on Facebook about immigrants making microchips . The National Republican Party supported the recall effort, which also received money from Trump supporters and prominent conservative figures such as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
“We came here because a Trump – led faction of the Republicans is trying to wield a major power because they lost power in Washington, DC,” Newsom consultant Ace Smith told a Sacramento press club. appealed to Proud Boys and QAnon conspiracy theorists. “You can choose to stand on the side of right-wing conspiracy theorists or people who have a vision to move the state forward,” he added.
Anne Dunsmore, head of the recall committee, said voters across the political spectrum signed off because they were repulsed by the impression that Newsom did not follow the restrictions that hampered other Californians, arguing that the campaign frustrated suburban mothers and Latino voters will address. She told POLITICO in February that two-thirds of the signatories were Republicans, compared to 22 percent who were not with a party and 10 percent Democrats.
She pointed to Newsom’s infamous decision to dine in a lavish restaurant with lobbyists and friends, while encouraging Californians to stay home and the fact that her children went back to learning in private at their private school, although most public schools were closed. And she argued that right-wing supporters did not represent the core of the campaign, while saying that Newsom’s defenders included the left-wing activists.
“I can also grab a bunch of photos of left-handers,” Dunsmore said in response to Smith. “We are both tormented by people in our parties who do not represent the mainstream at all.”
While pandemic anxiety has driven the recall to the brink of qualification, an official petition that preceded the coronavirus cited Newsom’s efforts to protect undocumented immigrants, stop executions and increase commercial property taxes. Smith argued that advocates of remembrance wanted to return to the era that preceded the current rule of the Democrats in California, and repeatedly called for a 1994 initiative that sought to stop services to unauthorized immigrants.
“You are seriously mistaken if you believe this is a straightforward referendum on Gavin Newsom,” Smith said. “This is a debate about the direction this state should go.”
Dunsmore, however, rejected these arguments, saying the repeal was a non-partisan referendum on Newsom’s pandemic management. The campaign is likely to hammer the theme, as it seeks to persuade moderate voters without preference in deep blue California. Democrats control every office across the country, use superpowers in the legislature and are nearly five million voters more than registered Republicans.
“You can keep throwing the biased rhetoric at this, ‘but’ it really did not get stuck and it did not get stuck because it is not true, ‘Dunsmore said. “You can keep throwing Trump over this – Trump has not yet expressed a single opinion on this repeal.”
Land registrars have until late April to determine if proponents have collected enough signatures to enforce an election. But Newsom treated a campaign like a done deal, saying the recall would likely qualify during the launch of requests – and fundraising requests – from Democratic heavyweights such as Senator Bernie Sanders and voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams.
Assuming it does qualify, voters are likely to weigh in this fall. The vote will ask two questions: should Newsom be recalled, and who should replace him? Recent polls put Newsom in a strong position to survive, with only 40 percent of voters saying they would vote to recall him.