Final Result in California Recall Exactly Matches Gavin Newsom’s 2018 Share of Vote

The final results of the recall election of California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in September reveal that the percentage of “no” votes — 61.9% — is exactly the same as the percentage of votes that Newsom won in his 2018 election, to the first decimal.

The results were released by California’s Secretary of State, Dr. Shirley N. Weber. The statement of vote noted: “Over 50% of the voters voted “no” on the Recall Question. Accordingly, Governor Newsom was not recalled and will remain in office.”

The results reveal that less than 10% of voters chose to cast a ballot in person; over 91% chose to mail in their ballots.

Conservative talk show host Larry Elder was the winner among possible alternatives to Newsom; however, his candidacy ultimately did not play a role because the voters chose to retain the governor.

The fact that Newsom’s margin is exactly the same as it was in 2018, when he defeated Republican businessman John Cox, suggests that he has neither lost nor gained support.

Newsom will face voters again in a year, when he will be up for re-election. The field of challengers remains unclear; however, a strong challenge is unlikely, so soon after Newsom’s victory in overcoming the recall effort, which had gained momentum from opposition to the governor’s harsh policies during the worst days of the coronavirus pandemic.

Newsom was also caught defying his own guidelines in a maskless dinner with lobbyists at the elite French Laundry restaurant last November.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.