The Recall Earthquake

Generally political recall efforts involve state specific positions and are permitted only in some states. The California recall was very important since it involved a sitting Governor and is a reflection of our turbulent political climate. Governor Gavin Newcom won a broad mandate from voters who overwhelmingly rejected the recall attempt launched by conservative Republicans heavily tied to Trump. The recall result clearly shows that the Democrats followed a sound and disciplined strategy while Republicans were floundering and lacked a message with popular appeal. Democrats realized that it made sense not to risk giving their base more than one candidate on the ballot and thus united behind the Governor. Meanwhile the GOP fielded several candidates from party moderates to their leading conservative choice Larry Elder who was nothing more but a MINI-TRUMP. Even before voting began and no mail in votes had been counted yet, Trump and Elder raised the big lie that the election was going to be one of voter fraud and a scam. That squarely shows that the Republican party has taken leave of reality. The Governor was able to win in districts that Trump had handily won in the 2020 presidential election. Democrats were able to mount a mammoth turn out of their voters while many Republicans seemed to lack enthusiasm to participate in the recall. Vaccinated voters from both parties favored the Democratic position of encouraging the public to get vaccinated. I suspect that many Republicans will now realize that Trump’s insistence on the big lie and thus his candidate support is killing them at the ballot box. But I doubt that the GOP will be able to accomplish a political reset since their leadership still holds on to Trump being the face of the party.