Few people expected the Democratic stronghold state of California to be swept up in a recall election that put Governor Newsom’s political future at risk. Nonetheless, with an energized group of Newsom opposers unhappy about homelessness rates, the handling of COVID 19, and liberal policies, the recall campaign was successful in gathering a number of signatures equivalent to twelve percent of the total votes cast in the previous election, ushering a special election.
If over 50% of voters choose to recall the current governor, they would select a replacement candidate, and whoever won the majority vote, which could be a small percentage, would be the new governor. A total of 46 candidates from all political spectrums appeared on the ballot, including Caitlyn Jenner, Kevn Falcouner and John Cox, but conservative radio host Larry Elder ended up being Newsom’s primary challenger. Elder ran on a campaign that promised to remove mask and vaccine mandates, put restrictions on abortion, remove the state minimum wage and more. Although there were prevalent fears that Newsom would lose the recall due to the lack of awareness surrounding the election and a fired up Republican base, he won 63.9% of the vote, topping the percentage that sealed his victory in 2018.
In the unlikely event that Elder were to have won the election, the state would have seen a drastic shift to the right, with policies modeled after the likes of states such as Florida and Texas. Just as promised in his campaign, it is highly possible that Elder would have cut all funding of abortions and made it difficult to obtain one. The current statewide minimum wage of $14 would have ceased to exist, meaning that people who live paycheck to paycheck and already struggle to afford the cost of living would see their living conditions further deteriorate. Programs such as MediCal, which recently expanded to undocumented immigrants of all ages, doula services and removed expiration dates for nonessential services would have been threatened.
Overall, Newsom’s resounding victory sent assurances to Democrats, who can use his campaign strategies as a playbook to retain majorities in Congress. Science, public health, women’s rights, equality and more proved to be popular among the majority of Californians. However, a recent trend of Republican candidates peddling accusations of voter fraud, modeled after the Big Lie, shows no sign of slowing down, and will continue to dominate elections in the future. This rhetoric has been adopted by Republican candidates and voters alike, who believe a losing result is attributed to an election being stolen, and not the fact that their platform wasn’t as effective. A major political party wholeheartedly adopting an inaccurate conspiracy theory undermines trust and integrity in the election process, creating doubt about the basis of democracy and making room for restrictive voting measures designed to suppress voting.
“A major political party wholeheartedly adopting an inaccurate conspiracy theory undermines trust and integrity in the election process, creating doubt about the basis of democracy and making room for restrictive voting measures designed to suppress voting”
Newsom was successful at using the urgent nature of the pandemic to appeal to individuals who were either not going to vote or were indecisive with which candidate to pick. Rather than focusing on issues associated with political parties that could have driven away potential voters, he zeroed in on a public health issue that affects all Californians, gaining momentum among voters who were not registered democrats but felt driven away by Elder’s unsafe anti mask and anti-vaccine messaging. For the Republican party, this could be a sign that they need to shift away from extreme political agendas and pivot back to the core values of Republicanism if they want to rebuild and expand their support. While their current party platform, based around the influence and ways of former President Trump, appeals to the far right, they are losing votes among young voters, women, college educated individuals and others.
Polls projected a Newsom victory, but the possibility of Elder leading California, although unlikely, did produce anxiety that ended with reassurance.
