Are Democrats taking recall seriously? Biden, Warren and more sound alarm

As polls tighten and California political leaders sound the alarm, Democrats in Washington are swooping in to help Gov. Gavin Newsom, giving his anti-recall campaign a big push.

National Democratic stars like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker have all lent their voices to Newsom’s anti-recall campaign. President Joe Biden released a statement last week urging Californians to vote no on the recall, and Newsom says he anticipates both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will visit the state to campaign in the coming weeks.

Less than a month after he told the editorial boards of Mcclatchy’s California papers he didn’t think the party’s national leaders fully appreciated what would happen if he lost, Newsom says he’s now satisfied with the support he’s getting from the party nationally.

“The Democratic Party truly is united in opposition because we recognize what’s at stake,” Newsom said Friday at a phone-banking event in San Francisco.

During the July editorial board interview, he said that if he loses the recall, that could give Republicans an advantage in the 2022 midterms, and could prevent the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress from enacting a wide range of liberal policies on immigration, climate, health care and COVID-19.

“If this was a successful recall, I think it would have profound consequences nationwide, and go to not just politics, but to policy and policymaking,” Newsom said during the interview with the editorial boards of The Sacramento Bee, The Fresno Bee, The Modesto Bee and The Tribune of San Luis Obispo.

Rob Stutzman, a Republican consultant who worked on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s successful campaign during California’s last gubernatorial recall election in 2003, said the idea that Newsom needs help from national Democrats is somewhat ironic.

“If I was running the (Democratic National Committee) and I heard Newsom say that, what I’d mumble under my breath is ‘Why do we have to come in and save a blue governor in a blue state?’” Stutzman said.

Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly two-toone in California and support for the recall largely breaks along party lines. But polling shows the recall’s supporters are far more enthusiastic than its opponents and more likely to vote, making the race uncomfortably close for Newsom.