LOS ANGELES: Californians voted overwhelmingly to keep their Democratic governor on Tuesday (Sep 14), roundly rejecting a Republican attempt to unseat him in a special recall vote spurred by mask mandates and COVID-19 lockdowns.
Gavin Newsom handily survived an effective confidence vote that could have seen him replaced by a Republican with only minority support in one of the most liberal parts of the United States.
With more than 60 per cent of the votes tallied, NBC, CNN and Fox News said that Newsom was set to prevail, with two-thirds voting against the effort.
"'No' is not the only thing that was expressed tonight," Newsom said in Sacramento moments after the race was called.
"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."
Newsom acted quickly as the pandemic took hold of California, ordering people to stay home and shuttering schools, in moves praised by scientists.
But entrepreneurs blamed him for suffocating their businesses with his rules, and parents chafed at keeping their children home.
The vote had been eagerly watched by politicians across the deeply divided country as a possible indicator of how incumbents who listened to doctors - instead of angry constituents - would fare at the ballot box.
Newsom's main opponent was Larry Elder, 69, a right-wing talk radio star who has spoken proudly of his support for former president Donald Trump.
Before polls even closed, Elder took a page out of Trump's 2020 election playbook, launching a website alleging voter fraud and demanding that state officials "investigate and ameliorate the twisted results" of the election.
But at what Elder had previously billed as a "victory party", he urged his supporters to be "gracious in defeat".
"We may have lost the battle, but we are going to win the war," he told an audience sprinkled with red "Make America Great Again" hats.
The ballot was a two-part referendum, with the first asking if 53-year-old Newsom should stay in office.
The second, which would only have come into play if a majority wanted him out, asked which of 46 candidates should take his place.
Traditional politicians vied with a YouTube star, a "Billboard Queen" and Caitlyn Jenner for the spoils.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiaWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vd29ybGQvY2FsaWZvcm5pYS1yZWNhbGwtZWxlY3Rpb24tZ2F2aW4tbmV3c29tLWRlbW9jcmF0aWMtZ292ZXJub3ItMjE3OTE5NtIBAA?oc=5
2021-09-15 05:38:00Z
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