With more than 68% of the votes counted within an hour of the California Recall Election, Governor Gavin Newsom was declared the winner by the Associated Press. It was not a guess, but a progressive analysis of voter response to the recall on a county by county basis. Throughout the media coverage of voter turnout, there was a clear comparison between Donald Trump’s votes in those areas voting “Yes’ on the recall, and the actual numbers Trump received in the same areas during the November 2020 election.
Governor Newsom, in his victory speech, said he was humbled by the votes of the people of California, but acknowledged what so many already knew. In his words, this was a victory for Democracy, for diversity, for individual human rights; a victory for vaccines, the wearing of masks, the safety of our children, our economy and all we hold dear. These remarks reflected everything that Larry Elder, the leading Republican contender, stood against.
Elder was a Trumper all the way. He was calling election fraud before the votes were counted and the polls opened. He was against the vaccine, against the wearing of masks, against the idea of vaccines for children and in favor of reparations for former slave owners.
Elder was the “Great Black Hope” of the Republican Party without the party endorsing him. Newsom said his defeat of the Recall was a defeat of all Elder and his supporters stood for, from voter suppression to plans to change the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.
Elder had said that if he won the election and Senator Feinstein’s seat became vacant during his time as Governor, he would appoint a
Republican. This single act would have given the Republicans control of the U.S. Senate.
San Diego County was one of the first to overwhelmingly report a vote against the recall and it only went downhill from there for the recall supporters.
