Get ready for the Sept. 14 recall election – San Bernardino County Sun

Its happening. After several attempts to trigger a recall election against Gov. Gavin Newsom since 2019, Californians now have a set date for deciding whether to remove the governor from office. Last week, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis announced the recall election would be held on Sept. 14.

Will Gov. Newsom face the same fate as Gov. Gray Davis did in 2003?

Will a prominent Democrat enter the race?

Will Democratic voters rally to Newsoms defense?

Will Newsom benefit from a relatively early recall election?

For these questions and more, well find out soon enough.

As of this writing, the pro-recall campaign seems to face an uphill battle.

In May, the Public Policy Institute of California reported that nearly six in 10 likely California voters would vote to oppose the recall.

Likewise, the Institute of Governmental Studies based at UC Berkeley reported five months ago that 36% of Californians said they would vote to remove the governor.

Months later, recall support remained stagnant.

Perhaps these favorable figures for the governor are a function of polling. Perhaps there are many more Californians willing to back the recall than could be reflected in surveys. Again, time will tell.

Obviously, Californias Democratic establishment believes an earlier than anticipated election will benefit Newsom.

But there are risks.

Wildfires, power outages, the impacts of drought and any sudden return of lockdown policies could aid the efforts of recall supporters.

Either way, expect a lot of money to be raised and spent by special interests on both sides regardless of what successes and failures occur.

Then theres the matter of candidates.

In 2003, there were 135 candidates on the ballot. This time, along with some outliers, theres a whos-who of California Republican and Libertarian alternatives in the running.

From celebrities such as Caitlyn Jenner to former elected officials like Doug Ose and Kevin Faulconer to elected officials Republican Assemblyman Kevin Kiley and Libertarian Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Hewitt, there are plenty of significant names.

But will they be able to energize voters in the way Arnold Schwarzenegger? Will they need to? That all remains to be seen.

One thing is clear. The recall is a legitimate tool from the state constitution empowering the public to keep elected officials in check. Now that a large number of Californians worked to trigger a recall, its time to pay attention to the arguments for and against recalling Gov. Newsom.

Over the next two months ahead, thats what we intend to do.

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Get ready for the Sept. 14 recall election - San Bernardino County Sun