Newsom invokes Texas ahead of California recall
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In the closing days of the California recall effort that could remove Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, his campaign has found a familiar foil that’s as big as Texas. In fact, it is Texas.
Recent Texas laws banning most abortions and restricting ways to vote are highlighted by Newsom and other Democrats as evidence of what a Republican governor could do in California should voters remove Newsom a year before his first term ends.
Newsom also says his GOP opponents will follow the lead of Texas, Florida and some other Republican-led states by rolling back mask and vaccine requirements. He has framed the issue as “a matter of life and death” for Californians.
The last day to vote in the recall is Tuesday, and Democrats are using stronger rhetoric to drive their voters to the polls. There are nearly two times as many registered Democrats as Republicans in the state, meaning a strong turnout should enhance Newsom’s chances of surviving.
More than 7 million of California’s 22 million voters already have cast ballots, and Democrats so far have made a strong showing.
If a majority choose to remove Newsom, however, it’s almost certain a Republican would take the governorship, as no Democrat with significant political standing is among the 46 replacement candidates. The leader in that field is talk radio host Larry Elder, a conservative
Republican who opposes abortion and is seeking to become the state’s first Black governor.
California and Texas are the nation’s two most-populous states and political opposites. California and its nearly 40 million residents are governed by Democrats who champion progressive policies on health care, worker’s rights and immigration. Texas, home to about 30 million people, is led by Republicans who have been on the forefront of conservative efforts on the same topics.
“The whole idea that a constitutional right, the right to choice, the right to reproductive freedom, rights of women, now are under assault — what a remarkable moment it is in American history,” Newsom said while campaigning Wednesday.
He cast Elder as “someone that celebrates what just happened to women in Texas, and is celebrating the prospect of overturning Roe v. Wade.”
Vice President Kamala Harris and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren are among national Democrats who have reinforced Newsom’s message that the California race is central to the fight over the nation’s values.
“Governors matter,” Warren said at a rally with Newsom last weekend. “We can look away while they take women’s rights … or we can fight back.”
Leaders in California and Texas have a history of using each other’s state as a political tool.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has boasted about some businesses, including Oracle and Hewlett Packard, moving their headquarters from California to his state during the pandemic. California’s population growth has slowed in the past decade and so the state lost a congressional seat for the first time, while Texas kept growing fast and gained two.
“Texas policies attract people more than any other state,” Abbott tweeted recently, linking to a story about California businesses leaving.
Ray Sullivan, who was chief of staff to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, said it makes sense for political leaders in the two states to do battle.
“Texas is the biggest, boldest, best-known Republican-led state in the country. California is the biggest, loudest, high-profile liberal state in the country,” he said.
But Sullivan said Newsom and fellow Democrats are using scare tactics by bringing up Texas’ abortion law.
“California is not going to become socially conservative just because they remove their governor,” he said, noting the state Legislature would still be overwhelmingly Democratic.
California Democrats dispute that.
“If you have a leader that’s hell-bent on taking away rights, doing actions that are harmful for people in getting access to care, they’ll find a way to do that,” said Jodi Hicks, president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. “California is not insulated from that happening either.”
Newsom also draws a sharp distinction between his handling of the pandemic and how leaders in Texas and Florida responded.