A group of Republicans involved in Gov. Gavin Newsom's failed 2021 recall said Monday they are planning another attempt to remove him from office, a far-reaching effort that would require more than 1.3 million valid voter signatures to qualify for the ballot.
Save California, which ran a campaign to support Newsom's 2021 recall effort, is the lead supporter of the new effort, said Anne Dunsmore, director of the Save California Campaign. Dunsmore said the group planned to deliver the subpoena papers to Newsom's office on Monday, which Politico first reported.
She pointed to California's massive budget deficit and what she described as Newsom's focus on Democratic campaigning in other states as reasons for voters to support recall.
“This is not the time for him to check in,” Dunsmore said. “But if he were to leave, we would fire him.”
Newsom estimated the state budget deficit at $37.9 billion. The Legislative Analyst's Office, which provides fiscal and policy advice to the state Legislature, released an updated estimate this month that suggests the deficit is more than twice that amount.
Newsom dismissed the latest recall attempt as an attempt by Republicans to divert attention from their unpopular efforts to restrict abortion and support former President Trump's bid to return to the White House.
“Trump Republicans are launching another wasteful recall campaign to distract us from the existential struggle for democracy and reproductive freedom,” Newsom said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “We will defeat them.”
The governor has been raising money for Democrats in other states ahead of the November election and is actively campaigning for President Biden's re-election. He returned Sunday from Washington, where he attended a meeting with other governors and the president and participated in national television interviews as a surrogate for the Biden campaign.
The new recall effort will be among more than a half-dozen attempts to oust Newsom since he took office in January 2019. All but the 2021 recall campaign, led by retired Yolo County Sergeant Orrin Heatley, failed to qualify for the statewide ballot. .
California election law requires recall petitioners to collect valid signatures from at least 12% of the total number of registered voters who participated in the last gubernatorial election in order to force a statewide election. They have 160 days to collect signatures.
Supporters of previous recall efforts have seized on Newsom's decision to attend a dinner party at the French Laundry in Napa Valley on Nov. 6, 2020, as an example of the hypocrisy of a governor who at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic had advised Californians to avoid indoor gatherings with other households.
On the same day, the coronavirus dealt another major blow to Newsom's campaign when a judge gave the recall petitioners four more months to collect voter signatures. The pandemic has hampered efforts to collect signatures outside grocery stores, and supporters successfully petitioned the court for more time in a decision that the California Secretary of State's Office did not object to.
The emergence of right-wing conservative Larry Elder as an alternative candidate helped boost Newsom's campaign to remain in office. Final results showed that 61.9% of voters rejected the recall, while 38.1% supported efforts to remove Newsom from office in September 2021.
Dunsmore said this time the recall campaign needs fewer signatures to qualify for the ballot. She said she also plans to mail petitions to the same volunteers who distributed the petitions last time.
“We don't have to restart it at all,” she said. “In fact, we can use the resources we collected over a period of time last time. We don't have to spend a lot of money.”
A spokesman for Newsom said the governor and his team are taking the new efforts seriously. Newsom reported $11.8 million in cash in his state officeholder's account at the close of the last reporting period, which ended Dec. 31.
State elected officials targeted in recall campaigns can raise money to defeat these efforts without being subject to California's normal contribution limits.
Newsom immediately seized on the recall campaign as a fundraising opportunity. Shortly after noon on Monday, the governor's fundraising team sent out an email calling on his supporters to donate to help him beat the recall and prevent “some anti-science, anti-woman far-right conspiracy theorist from becoming governor of California.”
“These Trump Republicans are targeting Gov. Newsom because he stands up for democracy and fights to re-elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Newsom spokesman Nathan Click said in a statement. “He will not be distracted from that fight. Democracy is on the ballot, and he will keep fighting.”
