With Newsom recall election looking likely, hard work begins for GOP

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s critics almost certainly have qualified a recall election for the ballot, a remarkable feat in the heavily Democratic state.

The chance to recapture the governorship in the most populous state is an energizing prospect for Republicans who have been locked out of statewide office for more than a decade. That was when Arnold Schwarzenegger was ending a governorship that began when he ousted Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in a 2003 recall, the only successful recall of a governor in state history.

But the GOP constitutes just a quarter of voters in California and with no Schwarzenegger-like candidate who is immediately recognizable to voters, it’s an uphill climb to attract the independents and Democrats needed to recall Newsom all while keeping Republicans united. A recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found just 40% of Californians support recalling the first-term governor.

“If this is simply branded as a Republican effort the likelihood of success is very slim,” said Tim Rosales, a Republican consultant who was a senior adviser to the campaign of John Cox, a businessman who lost to Newsom in 2018 and is running again. His firm recently stopped working with Cox.

Beyond Cox, the top Republicans in the race so far are former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and ex-U. S. Rep. Doug Ose, who last held office in 2005. Neither is close to a household name, though Faulconer has been barnstorming the state to raise his profile.

The closest thing to Schwarzenegger this time may be reality TV star and former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner, who has said she may enter the race. She is a longtime Republican but has never sought elected office.

Stephen Puetz, the campaign manager for Faulconer, said if people are waiting for another Schwarzenegger, “they’re going to be waiting for a long time.”

Faulconer’s team says he fits the mold of a Republican who can win in a Democratic state, like Gov. Larry Hogan in Maryland or Charlie Baker in Massachusetts. He was elected mayor twice in San Diego, the eighth-largest city in the country by population and a place where Democrats outnumber Republicans.

“It’s a long race. Everyone thinks of it as short, but it’s not that short,” Puetz said, arguing that Faulconer has plenty of time to boost name recognition and energize voters.

The California Republican Party hasn’t chosen a favorite yet but Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson said an endorsement will come before the election, expected in the fall.

“If we can all get in agreement on a single candidate I think it works better for all of us,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I’m hopeful that we find that candidate that can unite us all and say: ‘This is the best chance we have at winning.'”

But recall organizers, including the leader of the grassroots group that led the signature gathering effort, as well as the Republican Governors Association, plan to stay out of the candidate fight. Instead, they’ll focus solely on trying to convince voters to ous... (Read more)

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