California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom broke his silence Monday about a growing recall effort and launched his own campaign to defend his record.
Newsom played up the fact that his critics are attacking the state much in the way former President Donald Trump did while in office.
“I am not going to take this recall attempt lying down,” Newsom told the Los Angeles Times in a statement from his political campaign. “I’m going to fight because there’s too much at stake in this moment.”
Newsom announced his “Stop The Republican Recall” campaign Monday after recall sponsors said last week that they have collected the 2 million signatures required to kick off a special election. The recall effort has until Wednesday to submit their voter-signed petitions to the California Secretary of State’s office.
Mr. Newsom said that six would-be recalls have been floated since he was elected in November 2018, but that “this one appears to have the requisite signatures.”
“We’re taking it seriously,” Mr. Newsom said. “I have to do my job every single day, but I’m going to fight this thing because I’m going to fight for California values and the things I hold dear and I think the vast majority of Californians regardless of their political stripes hold dear.”
The Democratic governor launched Monday the anti-recall campaign Stop the Republican Recall, calling it a “naked partisan power grab” and linking it to extremist groups, which the recall group blasted as a “smear campaign.”
Californians could be asked to weather two elections in 2022 if an effort to recall Governor Gavin Newsom is successful.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom holds a face mask as he urges people to wear them to fight the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, Pool, File)
(CN) California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has broken his silence about the effort to recall him from office and mounted his own campaign to defend his record, playing up the fact that his critics are attacking the state much in the way former President Donald Trump did while in office.
“I am not going to take this recall attempt lying down,” Newsom told the Los Angeles Times in a statement from his political campaign. “I’m going to fight because there’s too much at stake in this moment.”