(HorizonPost.com) – Conservative activists in California are once again launching another recall attempt to oust California Governor Gavin Newsom, this time hoping to tap into anger over the state’s budget deficit, Politico reported.
The first step in the recall effort happened on Monday when organizers from Rescue California formally served Governor Newsom’s office with papers informing him of the recall. However, the effort to qualify for a statewide ballot would be long and very expensive.
The Democrat governor easily survived the only successful recall ballot measure in 2021 that was organized by many of the same activists, handily defeating Republican radio talker Larry Elder.
Five other recall efforts against Newsom failed to get any traction and sputtered out long before they could make it to a ballot.
Anne Dunsmore, Rescue California’s campaign director, said in a statement on Monday that Newsom had abandoned California with a $73 billion budget deficit to “advance his Presidential ambitions.” Dunsmore said the state needed a “full-time governor” who could focus on the issues that matter to the state.
Governor Newsom has ten days to formally respond to the papers served on Monday. Rescue California can then begin to circulate a petition to gather the signatures needed to place the recall on a ballot.
To qualify for the November ballot, Rescue California would need to have gathered enough signatures by May to reflect 12 percent of the vote Newsom won in his last election. If the roughly 1.4 million signatures are not obtained by May, organizers could continue gathering signatures, except the recall would not appear on the November ballot.
In a post on X, Governor Newsom shared a link to the Politico report and accused “Trump Republicans” of launching the recall effort “to distract us from the existential fight for democracy and reproductive freedom.”
A spokesman for Governor Newsom told Politico that while the governor was taking the recall effort “seriously,” he would not let it distract him from “defending democracy” and fighting to reelect President Biden.
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