CALIFORNIA—The Office of the California Secretary of State revealed on Tuesday, April 26 that the Recall Gavin Newsom campaign reached enough signatures for a recall election against Governor Gavin Newsom.
The CA Secretary of State’s office states on its website that “the requisite number of valid signatures has been reported to our office to initiate the recall of” Newsom and noted that “county elected officials must continue to verify the validity of any remaining signatures and must report the final signature verification on April 29, 2021.”
The “next phase” are voters that “may request country election officials to remove their names from recall petitions.” This phase will last 30 business days, with State Secretary Dr. Shirley Weber determining “if the petition still has the requisite number of valid signatures to initiate a recall election.”
California Lieutenant Governor, currently Eleni Kounalakis, is “required to call a recall election to be held not less than 60 days nor more than 80 days from the date of certification of sufficient signatures.”
The Recall Gavin Newsom campaign said more than 1.6 million signatures “have been certified as valid moving into the next phase” and “what was once dismissed as a long shot has become a historic campaign to remove the controversial leader from office in the highest populated state in America,” in an April 26 press release.
Senior Advisor and Spokesman Randy Economy said “people are frustrated at the destructive policies, divisive politics and manipulative tactics” by Newsom “since the day he became governor.”
Governor Newsom, whom Politico reported back in December 2020 that he is concerned about recall efforts, tweeted on April 26:
“This Republican recall threatens our values and seeks to undo the important progress we’ve made — from fighting COVID, to helping struggling families, protecting our environment, and passing common sense gun violence solutions. There’s too much at stake.”
Stop the Republican Recall, a committee launched by Newsom in March 2021 to defend his seat, alleges on its website that “a partisan, Republican coalition of national Republicans, anti-vaxxers, Q-Anon conspiracy theorists and anti-immigrant Trump supporters” are behind recall efforts against him.
In addition, the committee mentions members of Congress who against the recall, including Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, and Alex Padilla (who formerly served as CA Secretary of State).
Candidates who announced they are running against Governor Newsom include Caitlyn Jenner, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, and former porn star Mary Carey.
