Rescue California, a Republican group, served Gov. Gavin Newsom with a recall notice on Monday morning, arguing that the governor has abandoned California and calling for his removal from office.
This isn’t Newsom’s first time in the political hot seat. Rescue California previously challenged the governor in a failed recall attempt in 2021. California voters rejected the recall attempt by over 3 million votes.
The last successful recall was against Gov. Gray Davis in 2003. Arnold Schwarzenegger was subsequently elected as his replacement.
For a recall election to occur, the petitioners must get signatures from about 12 percent of the previous voter turnout. That means the new recall order must get about 1.3 million verified signatures to put Newsom’s name on the ballot for his own seat. Only about 48% of voter-eligible adults in California approve of California’s current governor, according to a survey from the Public Policy Institute of California.
Republicans said they are beginning the recall attempt on Monday, Feb. 26, after Newsom released a hard-hitting pro-abortion rights ad campaign in red states on Sunday, Feb. 25.
The new recall attempt by Rescue California calls for the removal of the governor, as they accuse Newsom of being too busy advancing an eventual presidential bid to focus on issues facing the state. The organization is also criticizing the governor for his efforts on addressing various issues such as public safety, immigration, education, homelessness, taxation and spending.
Daniel Schnur, a politics and public relations adjunct professor at USC and former Republican political operative, said, “while it’s very unlikely that the recall succeeds, its real goal may be to simply remove Gavin Newsom from the national political debate during the presidential campaign to force him to spend more time in California.”
Newsom’s recent ad campaign released in Tennessee confronts the conservative state’s bill that charges adults assisting pregnant minors in receiving out-of-state reproductive care without parental consent, with a felony.
“I completely disagree with the Republican recall,” said Francisco Espinoza Miranda, a sophomore theater major. “There has been a lot of progress from Gavin.”
Miranda said when he sees efforts like this it makes him frown, adding that Newsom is “definitely more progressive than most of America, which is dope.”
Newsom took to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday to assure his followers that his campaign will overcome Rescue California.
“Republicans are launching another wasteful recall campaign to distract us from the existential fight for democracy and reproductive freedom,” Newsom tweeted. “We will defeat them.”
Schnur, a veteran political operative, said that “for a lot of Democrats who think that Newsom is a particularly effective surrogate for Biden, this could be a loss to the party nationally.”
Rescue California raised concerns about the state’s large budget deficit. According to the Legislative Analysts’ Office, California is currently under a nearly $73 billion deficit.
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass announced via X Newsom’s plan for the state to spend around $300 million, $60 million of which will be spent on a post-pandemic effort.
In the previous 2021 recall effort, Rescue California raised concerns about Newsom’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The California-based Republican organization also cited worries this week about Newsom passing legislation regarding the accessibility of health care to undocumented immigrants.
The group also brought attention to California’s high-income tax rate. In 2023, the state of California hosted the highest income tax rate of any state at around 13.3%, according to American business software company Intuit.
Rescue California organizers said they understand the recall will take much more effort to be accomplished during the November 2024 election period.