Gavin Newsom Is Blaming 'White Supremacists' as Recall Effort Roars Toward a Statewide Ballot
As a recall election in California seems all but assured, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s supporters are saying racism is at the root of the dissatisfaction that has led more than 2 million Californians to sign petitions to hold the recall vote.
“Who’s behind the partisan recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom,” an ad attacking the recall effort, generated from the “Stop the Republican Recall of Governor Newsom” group, began.
“Anti-vaccine QAnon extremists, violent white supremacists — like the Proud Boys who attacked our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6 — and the same right-wing Republican politicians who supported [former President] Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the election.”
The ad tried to spin a February donation of $250,000 from the Republican National Committee as whole sponsorship of the effort, which began in June as most of the state was fuming amid unpopular and restrictive lockdown orders.
“Of course, paid for by the Republican National Committee,” the ad, largely paid for by the California Democratic Party, continued.
The video then implied people could side with either Newsom or enemies of the state.
“Instead of helping fight the pandemic, national Republicans are coming to fight Californians,” the ad concluded, calling the recall a “power grab.”
Randy Economy, a spokesperson for the RecallGavin2020 campaign, said Newsom is showing signs of desperation, according to Fox News.
“Gavin Newsom is resorting to political desperation. He now, finally, has accepted the fact that there will be a recall election being held this year to decide the direction of California and his political fate,” he told Fox.
“For him to continue to label the people’s campaign as extremist is sad, pathetic and just goes to show how out of touch he really is.”
The highest poverty rate in the nation, the largest number of homeless, some of the highest gas prices, unemployment checks going to death row inmates, and up to $31 billion in unemployment fraud.
The recall is gaining momentum because of your failed leadership. https://t.co/8VVvzZI3Tp
— CAGOP (@CAGOP) March 15, 2021
Newsom is rolling out big political guns to hold onto power, according to CNN, which said Newsom now has the backing of Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Alex Padilla of California, as well as Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
As of Thursday, the campaign passed the 2 million signature mark, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Recall supporters need a minimum of 1.5 million signatures to trigger the recall, but kept seeking more signatures to make up for any which will not be valid. The L.A. Times reported that if February’s results hold steady, which found that 84 percent of the initial signatures submitted were ruled valid, it is likely the recall will be held later this year.
“We have cleared another milestone,” Orrin Heatlie, the chairman of the committee to recall Newsom, said. “Politics as usual in California are over as we know it to be.”
But some say as the lockdowns are eased, the momentum to dump Newsom will dissipate.
“I think that as we start to reopen schools, as we start to get people back to work, as we get more people vaccinated, I think voters are going to take note,” Drexel Heard, a Democratic political strategist, told The Guardian. “By next month some baseball stadiums might be reopened.”
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