After months of politics, stances and prognosis, the polls opened Tuesday morning for Californians to decide whether Gov. Gavin Newsom should be removed from office and, if so, who would replace him.
Los Angeles County Registrar and Registrar Mike Sanchez said voting on Tuesday began with a “good start” and that about 11,000 voters had already voted by 8:30 p.m.
The race has caught the attention of a deeply divided nation and, whatever the outcome, it seems to be cited as proof of the direction the great political winds are blowing.
For Republicans, a successful withdrawal would not only be a devastating defeat for Newsom, but would break consolidated democratic hegemony in Sacramento. Democrats have denounced the effort as a disproportionate takeover and warned of potentially disastrous consequences if successful.
The bets were evident Monday, when President Biden joined Newsom for a final stop to the campaign in Long Beach, the last high-profile Democrat to give political weight to the governor’s cause.
“This is not a hyperbole: the nation’s eyes are set on California,” Biden said. “Because the decision you are about to make will not only have a big impact in California, but it will have an impact across the country. And, frankly, it’s not a joke all over the world. “
While 46 candidates are listed on the ballot as possible substitutes, the race for weeks has been framed as an essential showdown between Newsom and Conservative talk show host Larry Elder, the main Republican candidate.
Elder is walking the field of Newsom opponents with 38% of potential voter support, according to a poll by the UC Berkeley Institute for Government Studies, sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, a double-digit lead over the Democratic candidate and YouTube star Kevin Paffrath, who earned 10%.
“I think I have energized the state, I have energized the party. … That’s why they carry that heavy burden, ”Elder said, referring to national Democratic substitutes who have campaigned for Newsom.
Democrats have regularly compared Elder to former President Trump and said his rise would undermine the progressive values of the state and jeopardize efforts to combat climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. Elder has said he would repeal Newsom administration mandates statewide for students to wear masks in public school and vaccination requirements for health care workers and state employees.
“We may have defeated Donald Trump, but we have not defeated Trumpism,” Newsom said during Monday’s rally. “Trumpism is still at the polls in California and that’s why it’s so important, not only for all of us here (40 million strong Americans in the nation’s largest and most populous state), but also to send a statement throughout the United States. of America, that Trumpism does not take place here and Trumpism will be defeated in all the United States of America, because we are better than that. “
However, Republicans have long opposed Newsom’s handling of the pandemic and its use of executive powers. He was also taken to work last year for participating in a rally at the luxury French laundry restaurant in Napa Valley.
Newsom’s attendance at the event, with several masked people out of their homes, directly contradicted the state’s guidelines to the COVID-19-era public and ignited a wave of support for the withdrawal of Californians frustrated by the governor for breaking their own rules.
For Pasadena Housewife Mary Forrest, 32, Tuesday’s vote was a matter of “patriotic duty.”
Forrest voted to oust Newsom, whom he blames for “rampant homelessness, school failure and business shutdown.”
“When you look at the state of California, it’s really sad,” said Forrest, a mother of three with another on the way. “I look at my children. There is more emphasis on the homeless than on the education of our children. That must change. “
Forrest did not say which candidate he voted for to replace Newsom and pushed back the idea that the election of withdrawal was a partisan issue.
“I’m not even a Republican,” said Forrest, a libertarian. “Today it’s about Californians getting up and doing what’s best for the state.”
Of the possible candidates for the replacement, Elder scored points with some voters remembering.
“Larry understands that California needs to get back to business,” said Bobby Charlie, a 33-year-old Pasadena resident. “But my vote and why I’m here is more about Newsom. There can’t be two sets of rules for him and for the rest. “
Charlie said his brother recently closed his brewery due to the severe financial losses suffered during the COVID-19 closures.
“The Newsom winery remained open, but regular people had to close their businesses,” Charlie said. “This is a double level.”
Several voters echoed the sentiment of Pasadena resident Keith Ashton, 60, who opposed the withdrawal and left the second question blank.
“I’m not a Newsom advocate, but I think he’s done well or the best he can during a pandemic,” Ashton said. “He protected the state’s population with masks and stops and hurt, but he was right.”
Ashton did not like the high price of the withdrawal nor that those who advocated Newsom’s withdrawal could not wait for the 2022 election.
“A lot of that makes no sense,” he said. “This is a huge waste of time and money.”
Santana Salas thought of her sister, Alina, ten, unvaccinated, when she voted Tuesday morning at the Jerome Center in Santa Ana, when she voted against the Newsom memorial.
“I’m thinking about their safety, the safety of children who are not eligible for vaccination,” Salas said. “She is the only one in our family who is not vaccinated right now. The pandemic is still going strong. Other states do not have mask mandates in schools and the increase in the virus can be seen, especially in children.
Friends and family in Santa Ana and Mexico have been heavily affected by the virus, he said.
Salas, who graduated in psychology from Cal State Fullerton a few months ago, lives with her parents and said she is concerned about the safety and health of her family. He said Newsom has done its best, given the circumstances.
“In Florida, cases continue to rise and they don’t have any mask warrants,” he said. “And here the cases are not so bad.”
The issue of succession will not come into play unless a majority of voters decide to remove Newsom from office. The same recent Berkeley IGS / Times poll showed that 60.1% of likely voters surveyed are opposed to recalling Newsom compared to 38.5% in favor of dismissing it, the latest source of cautious optimism for to the Democrats after the previous canvases showed a much narrower run.
However, it remains to be seen whether the results of the race will be known on Tuesday night. And, if Newsom prevailed, some Republicans have already begun to lay the groundwork for contesting the election, even though there is no evidence of electoral problems.
Times staff writers Dakota Smith, Julia Wick, Robin Estrin and Phil Willon contributed to this report.