Newsom sees national impact in recall fight
CuLVEr CiTy >> California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom enlisted progressive star Elizabeth Warren on Saturday to help him overcome a looming recall election that could remove him from office, warning that his ouster carries possible consequences for the national Democratic agenda on climate change, immigration and reproductive rights.
On a crystalline summer morning, the Massachusetts senator and former presidential candidate joined the embattled governor for an outdoor rally at a suburban Los Angeles high school in the state’s populous Democratic heartland, where polls show left-leaning Latino and younger voters have been slow to turn in their mail ballots for the contest that culminates Sept. 14.
Both Warren and Newsom evoked former President Donald Trump’s tumultuous administration, depicting leading Republican candidate Larry Elder as an acolyte of the billionaire businessman who would undermine the minimum wage, chisel into environmental protections and threaten abortion rights.
At a time when Washington is often gridlocked, Warren argued that states have become the engines of government policy-making, and voters need to recognize how much is at risk in the recall and how broadly the results will be felt.
She said Elder, a conservative talk radio host, “dreams of being California’s own Donald Trump.”
Battles over women’s rights, the coronavirus and a warming climate are “not just in Texas, Florida, South Dakota,” she said, referring to states with conservative governors. “These fights have come to California.”
Newsom warned that Trump was defeated in 2020 but “we did not defeat Trumpism.”
With just nine days remaining in the contest, “Racial justice is on the ballot. Economic justice in on the ballot. Social justice in on the ballot. Environmental justice is on the ballot,” the governor said to hundreds of sign-waving supporters, who responded by chanting “Vote no” on the recall.
In recent months, Newsom appeared imperiled from widespread public frustration over his pandemic restrictions that shuttered schools and businesses. But he is hoping to bounce back with a decisive victory that could provide a springboard for 2022, when he will face reelection, and return his name to discussions about future White House contenders.
Recent polling has suggested he has established a lead, but Newsom has been warning the race could be close. Mail-in ballots went to all 22 million registered voters in mid-August for the unusual, late-summer election. In the recall, voters are asked two questions: Should Newsom be removed? And, if so, who should replace him?