Recall Effort Fizzles With Big Newsom Win

Governor Gavin Newsom has handily defeated an attempt to boot him from office, with over 60% of voters bucking the recall in preliminary tallies.

“I am humbled and grateful to the millions and millions of Americans who exercised their fundamental right to vote and expressed themselves so overwhelmingly by rejecting the division, by rejecting the cynicism, by rejecting so much of the negativity that's defined our politics in this country,” Newsom said in a speech Tuesday night.

Exit polls showed the pandemic was a top priority for voters. Over two-thirds of recall voters believe the state’s COVID-19 status is improving or staying the same. The majority are pro-vaccination and support mask mandates. That wasn’t exactly a winning formula for Newsom’s top challenger, Larry Elder, who promised to do away with all public health restrictions established by the governor so far.

One noteworthy result: Orange County voted no on the recall. As we've reported on previously, the OC's days as a reliable red county are over. You can follow the results here.

Let’s close with a shoutout to Robb Korinke at California Battleground who called this race back when the media was still covering it as a nail-biter.