California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom could once again be facing a recall vote come this November’s elections.
On Monday, another group of conservative activists in the state launched a bid to recall the governor, which marks the fifth time that such an effort has been undertaken. Newsom survived last year’s recall effort, as people sought to remove him from office.
The latest group to attempt the recall is called Rescue California. The organizers of the group wrote on a website they set up:
“Governor Newsom has abandoned the state to advance his Presidential ambitions, leaving behind a $68 billion budget deficit and a public safety, immigration and education crisis.”
This group also led an effort to recall Newsom back in 2021. The governor survived that recall effort easily, though, winning by 21 points over Larry Elder, who is a conservative radio host.
Even though Rescue California failed in that attempt, they are committed to trying to send Newsom packing this time around. As Anne Dunsmore, a campaign manager for the group, said when speaking to media outlet The Hill:
“[Newsom] has weakened himself. He’s spread himself too thin.”
She added that Rescue California has learned some valuable lessons from the 2021 recall effort, which include working closely with its legal counsel as well as not using petition solicitors who are paid.
As Dunsmore said:
“These were citizens working through a political qualification process.”
Thus far, the group has received more than 1,000 requests from people who want to be petition solicitors for them since they launched the recall effort on Monday morning. In that same time, they’ve received more than 100 monetary contributions to the effort.
In addition to rallying troops to act as petition solicitors, Dunsmore said that any interested candidate who wants to challenge Newsom for his seat should start preparing the run now. Part of the challenge that candidates had in the 2021 recall effort was that they didn’t have much time to actually campaign.
As she explained:
“Right now, people should be preparing to run for governor. The volunteers, they won’t forget.”
Not surprisingly, Newsom denounced this recall effort immediately, with he and other Democrats saying it was just a waste of time and political effort led by people who support former President Donald Trump.
As Newsom himself wrote on the social media platform X:
“Trump Republicans are launching another wasteful recall campaign to distract us from the existential fight for democracy and reproductive freedom. We will defeat them.”
In recent months, Newsom has begun to raise his national profile. While he’s obviously not running for president this year, his efforts could be in preparation for a future run for the White House.
He’s served as one of President Joe Biden’s key surrogates in his reelection campaign.
To have their petition qualify for the California ballot in November, the group will need to gather roughly 1.38 million signatures that can be fully verified by May.
