Gov. Gavin Newsom easily survives California recall election

Oakland CA

Description

With 62 percent of ballots counted, and noes on the recall leading with 67 percent of the vote, Newsom addressed his supporters in Sacramento. LOS ANGELES — California Governor Gavin Newsom easily survived a recall election Tuesday in a closely-watched race that drew national attention and campaign visits from President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Associated Press projected less than an hour after polls closed in the state. "No is not the only thing that was expressed tonight," the governor said. "I want to focus on what we said yes to as a state. We said yes to science. We said yes to vaccines. We said yes to ending this pandemic." "I'm humbled and grateful to the millions and millions of Americans who exercised their fundamental right to vote and expressed themselves so overwhelmingly by rejecting the division, by rejecting the cynicism, by rejecting so much of the negativity that's defined our politics in this country," he added. Preliminary exit polls suggested the very issue that recall proponents had hoped would unseat Newsom — the pandemic — was the one that helped propel him to victory. Not only did COVID-19 rank as the No. 1 issue on voters’ minds, ahead of homelessness, wildfires, crime and the economy, but just three in 10 California voters said Newsom’s pandemic policies were too strict. More than two-thirds (69 percent) said they supported the state’s mask mandates for students, and just 24 percent said the pandemic is getting worse in the state. California Democrats seemed to shake off their summer stupor. Why? A number of things happened all at once. The surprisingly close polling — and all the coverage it triggered — convinced blasé Democrats that Newsom could lose. Simultaneously, the right-wing Elder — who denies the existence of systemic racism, opposes gun control and abortion rights, wants to abolish the minimum wage and pledged to overturn COVID-19 mask and vaccine requirements in schools and elsewhere — emerged as Newsom’s likeliest replacement. That transformed the race from a freewheeling referendum on a troubled time to a clear choice between two living, breathing candidates with wildly different politics — one of whom could never win a normal statewide election in heavily Democratic California, and one who already had. Campaigning on behalf of Newsom on Monday at Long Beach City College, Biden made sure to link Elder to former President Donald Trump, who remains deeply unpopular here. ELDER CAN CRAWL BACK INTO HIS HOLE.