How Did Calabasas' Candidate Fare In Tuesday's Recall?

Calabasas CA

15 September, 2021

12:16 AM

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CALABASAS, CA — Calabasas had a local in the mix of Tuesday's recall election! Among the 46 candidates was Republican David Bramante, a real estate agent who lives in Calabasas and ran on a platform that prioritized reducing COVID-19-related mandates. The Associate Press called the gubernatorial recall election in Gov. Gavin Newsom's favor around 8:40 p.m. Tuesday night, meaning he and California voters successfully repelled the recall effort. Bramante had 6,807 votes — 0.2 percent of the vote putting him in 31st place as of 9:07 p.m. Tuesday. Larry Elder, the frontrunner to replace Newsom had he been removed, had 43.5 percent of the vote as of 9:07 p.m. Tuesday. Bramante announced his candidacy on the 4th of July, marking his first-ever political race. He knew coming into the election that a win would be a long shot, but his optimism grew as he saw support from young and first-time voters, something he largely attributed to his presence on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. "I'm pretty optimistic that the numbers, when they come in, [people will] be surprised — some of my competitors and some of the media that didn't give me any screen time and didn't invite me to the debates," Bramante said. "I think that they'll feel like they might have overlooked me. So I'm feeling pretty optimistic." Bramante thought he was overlooked by the media and even other candidates because he was new to the political arena and because he was registered as a Republican. He didn't subscribe to political labels, he said, but thought that California needed a conservative politician to balance the Democratic interests in California. Democrats have controlled the state Senate and Assembly for 24 years, and California has had a Democratic governor for the past 10, according to Ballotpedia. Bramante ran on a platform that prioritized ending COVID-19 mandates and emergency orders. Exit polls showed that the pandemic was the biggest issue for voters, according to CNN: 67 percent of voters said Newsom's pandemic response was either sufficient or not intense enough, and the remaining 33 percent said Newsom's measures were too strict. Bramante grew up in Los Angeles and made his way to Calabasas a couple of years ago. He has a career in real estate and coaches his children's soccer and T-ball teams. He didn't do significant campaigning in Calabasas as he was more focused on widening his support throughout California, he said. This won't be the last you see of Bramante, he said. Even though Newsom defeated the recall, Bramante is already determined to run for governor of California again next year.