“Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned on Wednesday for embattled California Governor Gavin Newsom… Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-to-1 in the state, and a recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California showed that 58% of likely voters opposed recalling Newsom, a first-term governor.” Reuters
The right supports the recall effort, citing California’s high rates of unemployment and homelessness.
“Is it possible that the polls are understating support for removal or the enthusiasm gap between Newsom’s detractors and his supporters? Sure. But California is still a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1. Over 46% of registered voters in California are Democrats. More than half of independent voters lean toward the Democratic Party as well. The fact is that Newsom’s removal, which once seemed possible and does still have an outside shot of happening, was always less likely than him surviving the recall…
“None of this is meant to sound pessimistic. As a California resident, I am as hopeful that Newsom is voted out of office as anyone else. But the reality of the situation must be acknowledged. Saving California from damaging progressive policies doesn’t end whenever California’s glacial election count determines a winner. It starts at the district level, winning over voters and trimming the Democratic majority in the state Legislature. It won’t be a quick and easy victory, but it is doable, and it will be worth it in the long run.”
Zachary Faria, Washington Examiner
“My theory on Newsom’s polling surge is that it’s a combination of COVID leveling off in California at an opportune moment and Newsom being gifted with a prominent foil in Elder. But he and his party are also working hard to nationalize the race, bringing in out-of-state pols like Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar to try to grab Democrats’ attention. All that stands between Newsom and an easy win is tepid Democratic engagement; he can’t get California Dems excited by running on his record but he can get them motivated by having Warren tell locals to ‘send a message’ to Republicans across the country.”
Allahpundit, Hot Air
“His campaign and its allies have gone all-out not in blaring Newsom’s supposed achievements but in screaming ‘racist.’ In March, Newsom labeled the recall effort ‘white supremacist.’ His campaign website claims the drive is powered by ‘a partisan, Republican coalition of national Republicans, anti-vaxxers, QAnon conspiracy theorists, anti-immigrant activists, and Trump supporters.’…
“Then talk-radio host Larry Elder jumped into the race and quickly vaulted to top of the polls. That he’s black didn’t stop the blitz; the left simply switched to claiming, as one Los Angeles Times piece put it, ‘Larry Elder is the Black face of white supremacy.’ Never mind that California has one of the highest unemployment rates, and Los Angeles County has the worst county-level jobless rate… Never mind that Newsom’s kids got to attend in-person private school last year when California public schools remained closed.”
Editorial Board, New York Post
“If California voters recall Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 14, homelessness will be a big part of the reason. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, homelessness in California rose 40% over the past five years… To many recall voters, the word ‘homelessness’ connotes less a lack of access to housing than a state spiraling out of control. Homelessness means hepatitis outbreaks and deadly encampment fires. It means parks, beaches and sidewalks strewn with needles and human waste. It means urban chaos…
“Buckets of taxpayer money have been thrown at the problem… During the 2010s, the number of permanent supportive housing units in California increased 65%, to 65,872 from 39,772. But the cost of constructing a single unit of housing for the homeless in California has soared, reaching as high as $750,000 in Los Angeles…
“The state’s millionaire tax generates more than $2 billion a year in dedicated funding for mental-health programs. All that money and all those programs haven’t been able to prevent Los Angeles and San Francisco from becoming exhibits A and B in the ongoing national crisis of untreated serious mental illness.”
Stephen Eide, Wall Street Journal
The left opposes the recall effort, citing California’s improving economy and recently enacted family-friendly legislation.
The left opposes the recall effort, citing California’s improving economy and recently enacted family-friendly legislation.
"California has outperformed most states in health outcomes and, particularly, in economic outcomes. ‘We dominate all Western democracies in the last five years in G.D.P.,’ Newsom said. ‘The G.O.P. loves G.D.P.! Twenty-one percent G.D.P. growth in the last five years. Texas was 12 percent. And our taxes are lower for the middle class in California than they are in Texas.’ Basically every economic indicator you can look at in California is booming, from household income growth to the $80 billion-plus budget surplus. But it’s still been a grueling 18 months of masks, lockdowns, deaths and discord…
“As a result, people don’t realize how much Newsom and the Democratic State Legislature have done. But in the two and a half years since Newsom became governor, they’ve more than doubled the size of California’s earned-income tax credit and Young Child Tax Credit, and added a stimulus just for Californians (though some of the neediest were left out)…
“They expanded paid family leave from six to eight weeks and unpaid leave to 12 weeks. They added 200,000 child care slots and $250 million to retrofit child care centers. They passed legislation giving all public school students two free meals each day, funding summer school and after-school programs for two million children and creating a full year of transitional kindergarten for all 4-year-olds by 2025.”
Ezra Klein, New York Times
“By and large, people in California have become homeless because so little affordable housing is available. That’s a crisis that developed over the decades as elected state and city officials — pressured by NIMBY homeowners — fought density and did nothing to make it easier or affordable to build in this state. None of these candidates has offered clear solutions on how to change that — particularly because what would be required (rezoning, greater density, higher property taxes) is so politically volatile…
“Gov. Newsom has directed billions toward the acquisition of hotels, motels and apartment buildings to turn into housing for homeless people. He isn’t perfect, but at least he’s looking for creative ways to increase housing supply, not shelters."
Editorial Board, Los Angeles Times
"The latest poll, from the Public Policy Institute of California, shows likely voters preferring to keep Newsom in office 58 percent to 39 percent. This should prompt soul-searching among California’s Republicans, whose failure would make their nemesis almost untouchable in his 2022 reelection campaign…
“It’s not that the party lacks talent: One of the 46 replacement candidates, Assemblyman Kevin Kiley — a conservative Harvard- and Yale-educated lawyer from suburban Sacramento — would be gubernatorial material in any red state. Another, Kevin Faulconer, a moderate former mayor of California’s second-largest city, San Diego, would be a contender in any purple state…
“Instead, California Republicans are flocking to Elder, a bombastic radio talk-show host. He opposes mask and vaccination requirements, speaks fondly of Trump anti-immigration loyalist Stephen Miller, opposes any minimum wage, and is under fire for comments and behavior deemed offensive toward women. Not exactly a winning recipe in one of the bluest of blue states.”
Dan Morain, Washington Post
“[Elder’s policy positions] run counter to the preferences expressed by most California voters. He is anti-abortion, against public-sector unions, and opposes the minimum wage—not just California’s relatively high minimum wage but any minimum wage at all. Electing him, [former California governor Gray] Davis said, would be a ‘U-turn’ for the state. ‘This is a power grab by a party that can’t get its candidates elected at a normal election,’ Davis said.”
Anna Wiener, New Yorker
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