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- A petition to recall Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has reached 750,000 signatures, or half of the amount needed by March, Mike Netter, one of the campaign’s leading organizers, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
- “Gavin Newsom is our best representative for this,” said Netter, who added that interest in the petition has increased in the last week.
- Photos released Wednesday showed Newsom attending an indoor gathering without a mask at a restaurant in Napa Valley, California in violation of his government’s own guidelines.
An improbable effort to recall Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom and trigger a special election has seen a significant increase in interest over the last week, organizers said.
The Recall Gavin Newsom Campaign has seen increased traffic on its website, an uptick in signatures and more inquiries, California Patriot Coalition founding member Mike Netter, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. The California Patriot Coalition is funded by California Revival Political Action Committee and John Cox, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully against Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2018.
“Gavin Newsom is our best representative for this,” said Netter. “He is running California badly. There’s a lack of leadership.”
“He’s ruining the biggest economy in the world,” he continued.
Photos released Wednesday showed Newsom attending an indoor gathering without a mask at a restaurant in Napa Valley, California, apparently in violation of his government’s own guidelines. Newsom apologized for attending the gathering, which was later revealed to have included California Medical Association officials.
EXCLUSIVE: We've obtained photos of Governor Gavin Newsom at the Napa dinner party he's in hot water over. The photos call into question just how outdoors the dinner was. A witness who took photos tells us his group was so loud, the sliding doors had to be closed. 10pm on @FOXLA pic.twitter.com/gtOVEwa864
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) November 18, 2020
Netter said that calling the increased interest a “spike” would be an understatement. The recall website has had up to 80,000 site visits in the “last week or so” and interest has doubled, he said, but didn’t provide the DCNF with specific figures.
The Recall Gavin Newsom Campaign has received roughly 750,000 physical signatures from California residents since it began in June, which is more than half the amount required to trigger a gubernatorial special election, Netter told the DCNF. An internal spreadsheet reviewed by the DCNF indicated the campaign had collected 749,196 signatures as of Nov. 17.
Campaign organizers have until March 17, 2021 to collect 1,495,709 signatures, or 12% of the votes cast for Newsom in 2018, from California voters, according to the Office of California Secretary of State Alex Padilla.
The campaign originally had until Nov. 17 to reach the required amount of signatures, but a judge granted an extension due to coronavirus measures, which the California Patriot Coalition said hampered their ability to collect signatures. Court filings showed that the campaign had roughly 675,000 signatures as of Oct. 15.
While the state has officially received 55,586 signatures statewide since June, the secretary of state’s office told the DCNF, Netter said the recall campaign isn’t required to submit all of its signatures until March. Netter added that in the coming weeks the official total will climb past 700,000.
The Recall Gavin Newsom Campaign was influenced by a variety of policies that Newsom implemented in his first term in office, including granting clemency to convicted felons and maintaining California as a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants. The campaign has also cited rising homelessness as an influence for their efforts.
The California Republican Party and Libertarian Party have both endorsed the campaign. Republican California Rep. Darrell Issa joined organizers in a virtual town hall in September.
“I’m on this call because I’m excited to see that this is a honestly-run program that has a real chance,” Issa said. “I didn’t get on earlier recalls because I saw them as divided, I saw them as self-serving and I don’t see that now. I see the kind of team that could make this happen.”
The campaign is the sixth effort to recall Newsom since he was inaugurated in 2019, according to Padilla’s office. The only time a recall effort succeeded in California history was in 2003 when Democratic Gov. Gray Davis was ousted and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
A spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office wouldn’t comment specifically on the recall effort saying its role was to serve in a “ministerial capacity when it comes to initiatives and referenda.”
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