Newsom’s anti-recall strategy: Brand the other side as Republican

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom is pulling out all the stops to paint the people trying to recall him as conservative Republicans.

He's run ads on Facebook that say the effort is all about "riling up that Trump base."

He's emailing donors saying "anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers, and notably, some of Trump's biggest donors" are pushing the recall.

He's sending supporters bumper stickers that say "Stop the Republican Recall," the official name of his campaign.

Although some Democrats and independents do support a recall, Newsom's frame is based in truth — the effort is run and funded mostly by Republicans, and Republicans provided most of the signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot. Experts say Newsom's messaging might alienate some Democrats and independents on the fence about removing him from office. But they also say it's his best chance to defeat the recall in a largely blue state.

"It's a smart tactic to define it that way," said Steve Maviglio, a Democratic strategist who worked for former Gov. Gray Davis when he was recalled in 2003. "That's the most effective way of shooting this down."

The recall movement's most visible leaders are conservative. So are most of its biggest donors. Major GOP groups including the Republican Governors Association and prominent national Republicans including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich are backing the movement.

According to recall proponents, about two-thirds of people who signed the recall petition are Republicans.

"If you look at literally who's behind it and where the money's coming from, it's legit," Maviglio said of Democrats' effort to brand the recall as Republican. "That said, a lot of Democrats signed that petition."

San Diego-based Republican political consultant Jennifer Jacobs said she thinks support for the recall goes beyond politics.

Jacobs, who helped collect signatures as a volunteer, said the signature numbers are likely skewed because the campaign targeted Republicans first. Had the campaign directly reached out to more Democrats and independents, she said, more of them may have signed, too.

"It screams desperation," Jacobs said of the Republican recall branding. "I think they've lost touch with the working people of this state that they've taken for granted for a long time... They are being dismissive of all those other people."

Randy Economy, an adviser to the recall, said Newsom's branding discounts all the Democrats and independents who have signed.

"We keep saying this is not a Republican recall, this is a group of concerned citizens," he said. "This is bigger than politics."

Newsom and his anti-recall campaign have repeatedly pointed to extreme views expressed by recall supporters, including Holocaust imagery used at recall rallies and one organizer's suggestion that undocumented immigrants be microchipped.

At a recent news conference in Santa Ana, Newsom said he has "deep respect" for some of the people who signed the petition who are frustrated with their lives during the pandemic. But he doubled down on his argument that the organizers have extreme conservative views.