A campaign effort to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom became official last Monday.
What We Know:
- Critics of Gov. Newsom have met the state’s threshold with 1.6 million validated signatures to force a recall election of the Democratic governor this year. Grassroots organizers needed 1.5 million people to back the recall election, which likely won’t occur until sometime between this summer or as late as December.
- The announcement was delivered from the secretary of state’s office days after former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner announced that she was joining the race for governor. According to NBC, other opponents in the running include former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and John Cox, a businessman who previously ran against Newsom in 2018.
- A poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California found that Newsom is expected to defeat the recall as 56 percent of likely voters did not support the campaign, while 40 percent wanted him out. The secretary of state’s office said people who signed the recall have 30 days to remove their names from the petition.
- The recall has been fueled by anger over the pandemic restrictions Newsom placed on California in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus throughout the last year. Those in favor of the recall were mostly unhappy with Newsom’s slow rollout of sending children back to school.
The California governor responded to critics, saying he is working as hard as possible to get children back into the classroom and Californians back to work while balancing safe practices to combat the deadly virus.
