California Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis (D) issued a proclamation Thursday to set a date for the recall election against California’s Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Kounalakis issued her proclamation to set September 14 as the day for a special gubernatorial recall election. The recall will be to “determine whether Gavin Newsom, Governor of the State of California, shall be recalled and if the majority vote on the question is to recall, to elect a successor.”
The Associated Press reported on the recall effort Thursday:
The announcement will set off a furious, 10-week burst of campaigning through the California summer, a time when voters typically are ignoring politics to enjoy vacationing, backyard barbecuing and travel.
Many voters have yet to pay attention to the emerging election, while polls have shown Newsom would beat back the effort to remove him. Republicans haven’t won a statewide race in heavily Democratic California since 2006.
Republican candidates have depicted Newsom as an incompetent fop, while Democrats have sought to frame the contest as driven by far-right extremists and supporters of former President Donald Trump.
“While a final date wasn’t set until Thursday, the campaign has been underway for months after it became clear that recall organizers had gathered more than enough of the required 1.5 million petition signatures needed to place the recall on the ballot,” the AP reported.
The Republican field of possible candidates has yet to be set in stone as candidates can officially file paperwork to declare their candidacy up until 59 days before the election.
For the recall election, the ballots shall ask two questions: “First, should Newsom be removed, yes or no? The second question would be a list of replacement candidates to choose from if a majority of voters cast ballots to remove Newsom,” NPR reports.
Breitbart previously reported, “Newsom will be the second governor in California’s history to face a recall election. The last, Democrat Gray Davis, was recalled in 2003 and replaced by Republican actor-turned-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger.”
Additionally, due to a filing error, it is possible Newsom may not be listed as a Democrat on the ballot in September. Due to Newsom’s bitterness toward his handpicked Democrat Secretary of State, Shirley Weber, and an unfortunate paperwork screwup on his part, the governor could possibly not be listed as a Democrat unless a judge intervenes.