Newsom: Will Californians replace him?

“Oh no,” said the Los Angeles Times in an editorial. It’s official: California is in for another “recall nightmare.” State officials last week validated more than 1.6 million petition signatures, triggering an election this fall to decide whether Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom keeps his job. “This recall should have never happened,” but in November, a judge gave proponents a four-month extension to gather signatures, just as the pandemic entered its deadliest period and Newsom was photographed dining maskless indoors at the über-expensive restaurant French Laundry. That gave the rural, Trump-supporting Covid deniers who drove the petition effort an opening to blame Newsom for the state’s misery. But today 59 percent of Californians oppose a recall. That’s partly because they remember the chaos that unfolded in 2003 when 135 candidates ran against Gov. Gray Davis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger prevailed.

California is “dysfunctional” and deserves new leadership, said Hugh Hewitt in WashingtonPost .com. Many Californians are exasperated that their state has the country’s lowest rate of inperson schooling and, at 8.3 percent, one of the highest unemployment rates, thanks to Newsom’s “roller coaster of closing and reopening” the economy. A host of qualified Republicans, including former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and former Rep. Doug Ose, want to challenge Newsom and need just a simple plurality to win should a majority vote to remove the governor. The buzziest GOP challenger is Caitlyn Jenner, the former Olympian and reality-TV star, said Kurt Bardella in USA Today. But the Governator pitched himself as “above partisan politics,” whereas Jenner is backed by aides to former President Trump. She stands no chance in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly 2 to 1.

To distract from his checkered record, Newsom is appealing to Democrats’ “tribal loyalties,” said Josh Gohlke in the San Francisco Chronicle. He claims the recall is being driven by QAnon conspiracy believers, “militia members,” and “antivax extremists.” The election may devolve into a “classic California circus,” said the San Francisco Chronicle in an editorial. Already, Jenner, D-list actor Randy Quaid, and adult film star Mary Carey are among the contenders. But more-serious candidates, such as former Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer and Los Angeles Democratic Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, are also interested. This race will be a joke—“until it’s not.”