SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The push to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom is moving along, with 20,000 of the 170,000 ballots mailed to county voters already returned to the Santa Cruz County Elections Office.
That’s according to County Clerk Tricia Webber, who said that none of the ballots will be counted until the polls close on Sept. 14 at 8pm. It is impossible to say, therefore, which side is ahead.
Exit polls have shown, however, that those favoring the recall are more electrified than those opposing it, and political analysts have said that the tepid response could doom the Democratic Governor.
The drive to recall Newsom launched last year, just before Covid-19 began to spread across the globe, and was largely led by conservatives angered at his fiscal policies and high taxes they say have done nothing to repair the state’s ills.
Once the pandemic began, Newsom endorsed several Covid-19 restrictions, including mask-wearing in public and social distancing. The state also closed schools and businesses statewide, causing many businesses to close permanently.
Interest in the recall grew beyond conservative circles when Newsom was seen dining—without a mask—in the French Laundry restaurant in Yountville with a group of his donors, says Kristen Collishaw, a member of the Santa Cruz County Republican Central Committee.
“This is not just a Republican recall,” Collishaw says. “We obviously support it, but we are not in charge of it.”
Collishaw says that, when supporters were gathering signatures to bring the recall before voters, more than half were non-Republican.
“Every single decision Gavin Newsom has made has affected everyone in California—not just Republicans—negatively,” Collishaw says. “I think he’s a complete hypocrite.”
Collishaw’s disapproval of Newsom’s performance as governor—and that of Republicans statewide—does not stop at the French Laundry debacle, for which Newsom has publicly apologized.
“He brags about how much money he spends on the homeless situation, but I haven’t seen a change, I don’t know where that money is going,” she says. “We don’t have the money. Our gas prices keep going up, our roads still look like garbage. He takes no responsibility for the day-to-day operations of what Californians deserve.”
Newsom’s supporters point to the state’s $75 billion budget surplus, but Collishaw says those numbers don’t tell the whole picture.
“He says we have a surplus, yet our taxes keep going up,” she says. “We have a surplus yet our gas tax went up on July 1. Our property taxes are going up, our state income taxes are going up. That doesn’t make sense. Give the money back to the people.”
Voters have two questions to answer, the first of which is yes or no on the recall. They are then faced with a staggering list of 34 candidates that have lined up to replace Newsom.
Dawn Hightree, who plans to vote no, says she was homeless and living in the River Street shelter in Santa Cruz when the pandemic hit.
Hightree says it was Newsom’s policies that allowed her to stay in the shelter, rather than being forced to leave every day at 8am as was the pre-pandemic policy. That policy, along with a mask mandate, kept Covid-19 cases in the shelter at zero, she said.
The governor also provided an opportunity to help Hightree find a permanent residence and to stay in CSU Monterey Bay, where she is studying social work.
“The seriousness he took kept our whole place safe,” she said.
Felipe Hernandez, who co-chairs the Pajaro Valley Cesar Chavez Democratic Club, says that members are planning a door-to-door campaign opposing the recall.
Hernandez says that the election is part of a broader effort by conservatives to shift the balance of political control that began in earnest when Donald Trump was president.
But he adds that Newsom has kept the state’s economy in the black despite the financial devastation of the pandemic.
“Given the circumstances, the Governor has done an excellent job making sure people are safe during the pandemic, making sure we keep the economy going and helping families survive the hardships caused by Covid,” he said.
Collishaw says that many conservatives are viewing the election as an opportunity to reset the state and possibly balance the legislature with more conservatives in the Assembly and Senate.
“This is an opportunity, and I feel like Gavin Newsom is the first domino that has to fall in order to save this state,” she said.
