ballot by mobilizing discontent in the most conservative parts of the state, particularly to governor newsom s tough measures on lockdowns in response to covid last year, all punk twatwaipt punctuated by his ill-fated decision to go to french la laundry. they never expanded beyond that. and as larry elder became the face of the recall and kind of the personification of the recall it folded in on itself even more. what newsom was able to do in the final weeks of the election was really bring the whole campaign full circle. it got on the ballot because conservatives didn t like his response to covid. he won going away because he was able to convince the broader electorate that the republicans represented a threat to the health of the state by opposing mandates for masks and vaccines. and i think, you know, obviously every state is different but there was a clear lesson here that democrats can lean into this contrast, mobilize their base, move a lot of independent voters and leave republi