Ian Patrick, FISM News
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Gavin Newsom appears to have survived a recall election as Californians went to the polls yesterday in what many saw as a barometer test of the national political climate.
By late Tuesday night over half of the California precincts had reported in with Newsom maintaining a 30-plus percentage point lead over the recall effort. At that point, some major news outlets such as CBS News, NBC News, and The Associated Press called the victory for Newsom.
According to the CalMatters election tracking site, almost 64% of the more than 9 million counted votes thus far favor keeping Newsom. NBC News reports that there is an estimated 3,800,000 left to be counted. CalMatters reports that 22.3 million ballots were mailed to registered voters prior to the election, but this will not necessarily be reflected in the final count total as mailed ballots are not required to be sent in. A ballot-caster could opt for in-person voting or choose not to vote at all.
The Daily Wire reports that the expected final vote tally is not expected until October 22.
In a speech after the race was called, Newsom lauded the vote to keep him in office and thanked those who voted for him.
Tonight I’m humbled, grateful, but resolved in the spirit of my political hero, Robert Kennedy, to make more gentle the life of this world.
He also reiterated that a vote for him is also a vote for progressive agenda items such as “economic justice, social justice, racial justice, environmental justice” among other things.
Republicans had hoped that the governor’s extreme pandemic policies and the optics of him often personally ignoring those policies would keep Democrats away from the ballot box. Gaining enough recall votes would have been a momentous win in a state in which registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans nearly 2-1.
Newsom’s closest contender was conservative radio host Larry Elder, who after gave a concession speech after the news organizations began calling the race early. Elder, although pointing to rising crime and homelessness under Newsom, gave a positive spin on his campaign to show how it shook the other side enough to justify a worthy political fight.
Let’s be gracious in defeat. And by the way, we may have lost the battle but we are going to win the war. . . . We are forcing them now to pay attention to the problem of homelessness; we are forcing them now to do a better job on schools; we are forcing them now to do a better job on clearing our forests; we are forcing them now to do a better job about energy; we are forcing them now to pay attention to the things they should have paid attention to 2 years ago.