Ose endorses Kiley in gubernatorial recall
SACRAMENTO — In his first public appearance since suffering a heart attack and ending his campaign for governor, Doug Ose on Tuesday endorsed fellow Republican Kevin Kiley in the Sept. 14 recall election.
Kiley, an Assembly member from Rocklin in the Sacramento suburbs, entered the race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom last month after emerging during the pandemic as a leading critic of Newsom’s public health measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus, including extended business and school closures.
But he has struggled to break out of the field of 46 replacement candidates as attention — and grassroots excitement among recall supporters — has centered on provocative talk radio host Larry Elder.
Ose, a former congressman who dropped out last week to focus on his recovery from the heart attack, said Tuesday that he trusted Kiley because of their past experience together, including in a cattle business that they owned together for several years.
“Kevin Kiley brings it every day. He’s intelligent, he’s curious and he delivers,” said Ose, who paused his remarks multiple times to catch his breath. “Kevin Kiley has what it takes to bring this state back to a sense of normalcy.”
Ballots for the recall election have already been mailed to every registered voter in California. The ballot asks two questions: Should Newsom be removed from office before the end of his term? And if so, who should replace him?
If a majority of voters selects yes on the first question, then whichever candidate receives the most votes on the second question will serve out the remainder of his term, which ends on Jan. 2, 2023. The winning candidate does not need to receive a majority of votes.
Both Ose and Kiley declined to call on Elder to drop out of the race, following a report last week in Politico that he purportedly brandished a gun at his former fiancee during a heated argument in 2015 and another in The Chronicle about a 2000 book in which Elder
wrote that women should tolerate some crude language and behavior from men in the workplace.
Elder denied the allegations about the gun and did not respond to The Chronicle’s inquiries about his book. But two other top Republican recall candidates, reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner and former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, urged him Friday to end his campaign.
“That’s up to the voters to decide who to pick. It’s not my position to be saying who should be dropping out,” Kiley said Tuesday. “We all have an opportunity, whoever is in the race, to make a case against Gavin Newsom.”
Ose said, “I don’t know a lot about Larry Elder, which is why I’m supporting Kevin Kiley for governor.”