California Governor Gavin Newsom Faces Recall Election

Yesterday, state officials confirmed that California Governor Gavin Newsom will face a recall election. This marks the second time in state history that a special election was held to recall a sitting Governor. 43 people withdrew their signatures from petitions to recall the Governor during a 30-day window required by state law. California’s Department of Finance will now begin estimating the cost of the recall including holding it as a special election or part of the next regular election which will then be submitted to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State and the Chairperson of the joint Legislative Budget Committee by August 5th.

The recall has been fueled by anger over the restrictions Newsom put in place to curb the spread of Covid-19 throughout last year and during an alarming surge in cases in the state during the winter. Critics met the threshold for a recall election in April following an effort to gather signatures in every county backed by Republican strategists. There will be two questions on the recall ballot: first, if voters want to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on recalling Newsom and second if they would like to replace Newsom and who they want to replace him with out of a long list of names.