Newsom to face recall election as effort hits signature goal

Propelled by growing voter frustration over California's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a Republican-led drive to remove Gov. Gavin Newsom from office collected enough voter signatures to qualify for the ballot, state officials reported Monday, triggering for only the second time in the state's history a rapid-fire campaign to decide whether to oust a sitting governor.

Recall backers submitted more than 1,495,709 verified voter signatures — equal to 12% of all ballots cast in the last gubernatorial election — meeting the minimum threshold to force a special recall election, according to a tally released by Secretary of State Shirley Weber. Barring intervention by the courts, Newsom will face a statewide vote of confidence by year's end.

Though recent opinion polls showed that only 40% of California voters support recalling Newsom, an indication that the effort might fail, the success of the recall campaign in gathering enough valid signatures for a special election delivers a blow to Newsom as one of the nation's most prominent and politically ambitious Democrats, who raised his national profile as a liberal foil to former President Trump.

In all, Newsom's critics gathered 1,626,042 valid voter signatures on recall petitions, according to the report issued on Monday that contains information collected from elections officials in California's 58 counties as of April 19. A few signatures remained unexamined and the final report will be issued by Friday.

Before the recall petition can be certified by Weber, voters who signed the petitions will be given time to withdraw their signatures and state officials will crunch the numbers on the cost to conduct the election, steps that could take up to three months to complete. Only then can Weber issue her official certification, triggering action by Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis to call an election within 60 to 80 days.

Voters will then decide whether or not to recall Newsom and, if he is removed from office, who should replace him. Newsom is barred from being listed among the candidates who can be considered if the recall passes.

Two and a half years ago, Newsom won the governor's office by the largest vote margin in modern history, capping the telegenic Democrat's steady rise to the pinnacle of California politics that began in 1996 when San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown appointed him to the city's Parking and Traffic Commission. The son of an appellate court judge with deep ties to San Francisco's most affluent residents, Newsom's ascension quickly led to a seat on the city's Board of Supervisors, two terms as San Francisco mayor and, after abandoning a fledgling run for governor in 2010, eight years as California's lieutenant governor.

Enveloped in an air of inevitability, Newsom dominated the 2018 governor's race by trouncing a field of Democratic rivals that included former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former state Treasurer John Chiang and former state schools chief Delaine Eastin, and a little-known Republican challenger, businessman John Cox. Newsom's campaign stoked whispers and persistent speculation of a future White House run.

But Newsom's star dimmed this summer as criticism of his response to the deadly COVID-19 pandemic intensified, and he now finds himself fighting for survival.

The recall vote also opens up the possibility that a Republican could be elected to replace Newsom, a