Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has won his recall battle for California in a landslide victory. Newsom held an early and substantial lead in...
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has won his recall battle for California in a landslide victory.
Newsom held an early and substantial lead in results from Tuesday's recall election shortly after polls closed at 8pm local time.
CNN, ABC, NBC and the Associated Press all called the race and Newsom proclaimed victory within an hour of the polls closing.
'Thank you for rejecting this recall,' Newsom announced. 'Tonight I'm humbled, grateful, but resolved in the spirit of my political hero, Robert Kennedy to make more gentle the life of this world,' Newsom said from Sacramento.
He also called out former President Donald Trump for suggesting that the election would be 'rigged.'
'Democracy is not a football. You don't just throw it around. It's more like, I don't know, an antique vase. You can drop it and smash it in a million pieces. And that's what we're capable of doing if we don't stand up and meet the moment,' Newsom said.
As he said throughout the recall campaign Newsom warned: 'We may have defeated Trump, but Trumpism is not dead in this country.'
Newsom's most likely replacement - Republican Larry Elder - conceded at his watch party in Orange County after floating that he, following Trump's lead, might contest the race.
'Let's be gracious in defeat,' he said as his audience booed Newsom. 'We may have lost the battle, but we are going to win the war.'
California Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed victory in the state's recall race Tuesday night, an hour after polls closed, calling out former President Donald Trump for saying that the election would be 'rigged'
Republican hopeful Larry Elder, who would have moved into the governor's mansion had a majority of Californians voted 'yes' to recall Newsom, conceded the race at his Orange County election night party
Newsom is back on the ballot next year if he decides to run for a second term.
'As a former radio show host, let me just say this: stay tuned,' Elder said, teasing his next move at the end of his Tuesday night remarks.
With 65 per cent of the vote in, 66.2 per cent voted 'no' - meaning Newsom would not be recalled - while 33.8 per cent said yes, which would remove him. Los Angeles county's mail-in ballots were tallied early, giving Newsom a big boost.
Fifty per cent of Californians would have had to vote 'yes' for Newsom to be fired.
At Elder's campaign headquarters at a Hilton in Costa Mesa - located in Republican-friendly Orange County - reporters outnumbered supporters with less than an hour to go before polls closed. A band was warming up on a side stage. Large screens were flipping between Fox News, Elder's campaign logo and the California flag.
Several hundred people eventually filed in, with very few choosing to wear masks.
While the networks were calling the race for Newsom, the Elder party continued uninterrupted, as Fox - which was playing - had yet to make a determination.
'Some TV stations are saying it's the end, but it's way too early,' said Abel Maldonado, the last Republican to serve as the state's lieutenant governor. 'They have just counted mail ballots. They still gotta count the real ballots, the working people who go to the polls on a daily basis.'
Exit polls from California spell trouble for Republican gubernatorial hopeful Larry Elder, with 49 per cent holding an unfavorable view of the conservative radio show host, photographed campaigning in Monterey Park, California on Monday
Supporters of Republican Larry Elder gathered at a Hilton in Costa Mesa, California. The party went on as the race was called early for California Gov. Gavin Newsom to remain in his job
A supporter of Republican gubernatorial hopeful Larry Elder gives a thumbs down at Tuesday night's election party. As the networks called the election for Newsom, TV coverage was turned off
Fox News was playing for portion of the Tuesday night at Larry Elder's election night shindig, but was turned off after the race was called for Newsom
Orange County GOP official Kelly Ernby, who lost a California State Assembly race in last year, came on stage after the race had been called for Newsom and said that she had heard that people were still in line voting.
'We don't believe those polls, do we? No way!' she said.
'This is not over!' she exclaimed.
Fox was eventually turned off - as Elder supporters danced gleefully to the band.
When Elder came out around 10 p.m., he joked 'we may be here a while. You know how we can go,' before launching into a speech about all the state's problems.
'I can't think of anything that this man has done in the last two years that suggests he deserves another day in office,' Elder said of Newsom. 'However, we recognize that we lost the battle, we are not going to lose the war.'
'We are forcing him now to pay attention to the problem of homelessness. We are forcing them now to do a better job on schools. We are forcing them now to do a better job on clearing our forests. We are forcing them now to do a better job on energy. We are forcing them now to pay attention to things they should have paid attention to two years ago,' Elder proclaimed.
Earlier Tuesday, Elder appeared ready to follow Trump's lead and question the results of the election.
He didn't - though he did pull a Trump and get his audience to heckle CNN.
Elder told reporters in the state on Monday that 'there might very well be shenanigans' in the election.
He said his campaign is ready to file lawsuits.
Elder's campaign launched a 'Stop California Fraud' website that asks his supporters to report incidents of voter fraud and sign a petition to investigate the election results.
His move comes before a single ballot is reported and is seen as laying the groundwork to argue that Democrats stole the election, a line used by Trump in the wake of President Joe Biden's victory in 2020.
There was no evidence of massive voter fraud in the 2020 election and multiple recounts confirmed Biden's victory. There also has not been any evidence of massive voter fraud in California's election.
Trump was also already questioning the recall results, pointing to California's use of mail-in ballots.
'Does anybody really believe the California Recall Election isn't rigged? Millions and millions of Mail-In Ballots will make this just another giant Election Scam, no different, but less blatant, than the 2020 Presidential Election Scam!' Trump wrote in a statement Monday.
Elder's campaign set up a website to cast doubt on Tuesday's election results and to lay the groundwork to argue that Democrats stole the election
FiveThirtyEight.com's compilation of polls showed on Monday that 57.5 per cent of California voters wanted Newsom to stay in office, while 40.8 per cent planned to vote for his removal.
A month ago, polls were essentially tied among Californians who planned to vote 'no' on the recall, which would allow the Democrat to remain, and those who planned to vote 'yes,' to oust him.
There are two questions on the ballot: Whether to keep Newsom as governor and, if not, to choose a Newsom replacement, which is where Elder led among 46 candidates. That also includes Caitlyn Jenner, who is polling in single digits but not ruling out another run for public office.
With Democrats more prone to use mail-in ballots and Republicans likely to vote on election day, the margin could narrow as in-person votes are counted - opposite of the dynamic that played out in the presidential race, which saw Trump's leads in swing states evaporate once mail-in ballots were counted.
GOP hopeful Caitlyn Jenner is polling in single digits but not ruling out another run for public office. She voted in Beverly Hills Tuesday
'I VOTED' stickers were set out at a polling location in California at UCLA's Ackerman Union. Registered voters in California were also sent ballots they could put in the mail
In California, counties were allowed to start processing mail-in ballots one week ago.
California has long used voting by mail but this is the first race every active, registered voters were sent a ballot, which has stroked rumors and conspiracy theories in the lead up to election day.
Newsom's campaign was predicting victory on Monday night.
'There's no scenario where we lose tomorrow,' Newsom campaign adviser Sean Clegg told reporters Monday night in Long Beach. 'I may have a lot of Clegg on my face tomorrow, but I don't see a scenario where we're not talking about a victory for the governor,' he jokingly added.
The campaign's boast came after Newsom saw a steady five-week ascent in the polls after they appeared deadlocked in early August among those who wanted to keep Newsom and those who wanted to see him replaced.
A person casts a vote at the Sepulveda Garden Center in Encino, California Tuesday
California Gov. Gavin Newsom's (left) campaign believes he'll sail to victory in Tuesday's recall race in the state. On Monday night he was joined at a Long Beach rally with President Joe Biden (center) and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom (right)
Republican conservative radio show host Larry Elder hugs a patron as he visits Philippe The Original Deli during a campaign for the California gubernatorial recall election on Monday. Elder is the most likely replacement for Newsom, polls show
Democrats want Californians to vote 'No' in Tuesday's recall election, which would keep Gov. Gavin Newsom in his job
Meanwhile, Biden went after 'Trump clone' Elder during a campaign rally for Newsom on Monday night.
'You either keep Gavin Newsom as your governor or you get Donald Trump,' Biden warned at the event on the campus of Long Beach City College.
Biden won California in the 2020 election by almost 30 points.
Elder remained the top choice on the Republican side, despite saying that he believed white slave owners could be owed reparations for slavery - a remark that got national attention.
'He's leading the other team. Can you imagine him being governor of this state?' Biden asked of Elder. 'You can't let that happen. There's too much at stake.'
Both Biden and Newsom, who introduced the president at the rally site, warned that Elder could bring an anti-science agenda to the state, as the country still reels from the Delta surge of the COVID-19 pandemic.
'For these Republican governors, it's not about public health, the health of the people, it's about politics,' Biden complained.
He added that some of the most anti-vax Republican governors in the country also come from states where vaccine mandates for children going into schools - for diseases like measles and mumps - are some of the most strict.
'Just look at the hypocrisy,' Biden uttered. 'Talk about inconsistency.'
In California, 68 per cent are fully vaccinated and there was anger in the state as mask mandates and other mitigation policies were reinstated after the Delta variant caused the infection rate to surge because of the unvaccinated.
Vaccine mandates are popular in the state with 61 per cent of California adults in favor of some kind of mandate according to a survey conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California conducted late last month.
Elder said, if he became governor, one of his first actions would be to eliminate Newsom's mandate for state workers to get vaccinated or else face weekly testing.
'We saw the Delta surge as a real inflection moment in this campaign. I think it was a turning point for us,' Clegg explained. 'What Delta brought into clear, clear focus was what the stakes are in this election. When one party has basically become an anti-science, anti-vaccine, anti-public health party.'
'Our message and endgame here reduced to a single sentence: a vote for this recall is a vote for a pro-Trump, anti-vaxx Republican governor who is going to reverse vaccine mandates on day one,' Clegg said.
Beyond the pandemic, Biden warned what could happen to abortion rights, pointing to the controversial Texas law that bars abortions after six weeks.
'Women are to be respected and their rights protected,' Biden urged.
Both Biden and Newsom also pointed to comments Elder made in 2000 when he wrote in a column, 'women know less than men about political issues, economics, and current events.'
'We have someone on the other side of this ballot who thinks women aren't as smart as men,' Newsom said to boos from the crowd.
Newsom has seen gains in the polls as he's nationalized the race - and gotten national political figures to come to California to stump for him.
Prior to Biden's visit - described by Clegg as 'the crescendo' - Vice President Kamala Harris, a former California senator, campaigned in the Bay Area with Newsom Wednesday. Former 2020 Democratic primary candidates and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar made the trek the weekend before.
Some of Newsom's ads featured Sen. Bernie Sanders - popular with the progressive wing of the party - as well as former President Barack Obama.
The state has recalled a Democratic governor once in the past and replaced him with a Republican.
In 2003, Democratic Gov. Gray Davis was recalled and replaced by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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