CALIFORNIA Governor Gavin Newsom will remain in office after voters overwhelmingly voted “no” on the Republican-led recall effort.
Results from the gubernatorial recall election, which took place on Tuesday, September 14, show that a majority of voters — 63.9% (5,840,283) — said the current governor should not be removed from office, according to the California Secretary of State.
“‘No’ is not the only thing that was expressed tonight,” Newsom said on Tuesday night from Sacramento. “I want to focus on what we said ‘yes’ to as a state: We said yes to science, we said yes to vaccines, we said yes to ending this pandemic.”
“We said yes to diversity, we said yes to inclusion, we said yes to pluralism. We said yes to all those things that we hold dear as Californians, and I would argue, as Americans,” the governor added.
The recall effort came in response to the California governor’s response to the pandemic, which included early closures and mask and vaccine mandates.
Meanwhile, 36.1% (3,297,145) voted “yes” and made their pick of who should replace Newsom. Leading Republican challenger and talk radio host Larry Elder, one of the 46 active candidates on the ballot, received 46.9% of the vote (2,373,551).
“Let’s be gracious in defeat. We may have lost the battle, but we are going to win the war,” Elder told supporters.
Ahead of Tuesday’s election, Newsom traveled down the state in a final plea to voters, including a visit from President Joe Biden in Long Beach on Monday, September 13.
On Sunday, September 12, he made his way to Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown, where he met with Filipino American elected officials, community members and organizations, who represent a fraction of the 1.6 million Fil-Am population in the Golden State.
He boasted his leadership during the pandemic, record on addressing the surge in anti-Asian violence, appointment of Rob Bonta as attorney general, and warned of the ramifications of “Trumpism.”
“It’s a privilege to represent every day the [Asian and Pacific Islander] community in this state, and to continue to push back against hate, bigotry and divisiveness and have the backs of our diverse communities,” Newsom told the crowd on Sunday.
With his victory on Tuesday, Newsom said it’ll be back to work and continuing his efforts.
“We’ll be doubling down on what we’ve been doing,” Newsom told the Asian Journal. “All of these issues, from climate, addressing the last gasps of this pandemic, education, health care — we want to double down on these efforts in the next year.” n
