John Cox is trying to try his luck in the race for governor again, if the effort to recall Governor Gavin Newsom gets enough signatures to get the referendum in a vote.
Cox, who on the Republican ticket challenged Newsom in 2018, often called the governor “epic mismanagement” of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“He’s in dysfunction, almost every aspect of life,” Cox told Fox News about his home state in an interview.
Cox said the Golden State has a low quality of life due to “cost of living, high poverty, high taxes and high housing costs”. He easily lost to Newsom in 2018, but has won the majority of votes for a Republican state post since Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The recall organizers are expected to obtain 1.5 million signatures by March 17 in order for the referendum on Newsom, D., to go to the polls. As of Tuesday, the petitioners had collected 1.2 million signatures, according to Recall Gavin, one of the two groups organizing the effort.
Under state law, petition sponsors must collect signatures for 12% of the electoral participation in California’s previous state election, which is about 1,495,709 names.
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Rescue California, one of the two main groups that organize the campaign, says its goal is to collect 2 million signatures to explain the fact that many of the signatures will inevitably prove to be invalid.
The San Diego KUSI reported on Saturday that the California Secretary of State has confirmed that 84% of the signatures collected so far are valid.
Cox was confident that the recall effort would be successful, given Newsom’s treatment of the pandemic and the state in general.
“When I ran in 2018, it was housing, homelessness, electricity, water and fires. Now, this has multiplied with the pandemic, the closing of deals, keeping our children out of school and activities and all the other issues I talked about. about getting worse, “he said.
Newsom’s office could not be reached for comment.
The current effort is the sixth in the state to oust its Democratic governor in two years.
Since 1911, Californians have tried to oust their governor 55 times, but were only successful in 2003 against Governor Gray Davis, who was overthrown in a special election. Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected to replace Davis as governor.
Newsom received high praise for his aggressive approach to the coronavirus last spring, when he issued the first order to stay home across the state. But the public grew tired of the subsequent health claims that closed schools and businesses and an unemployment insurance fraud scandal of more than $ 11 billion.
Cox also criticized the governor for worrying about climate change at a time of rapidly spreading blackouts and forest fires.
“Can you imagine sitting in your house, seeing smoke everywhere, and you know these fires are on the rise, and your governor’s only response is, ‘well, are we going to ban the car in 15 years, in 2035?”
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Cox said he believed Republicans might have a chance to fight in the state, given referendums in the November elections.
In a series of electoral measures, Californians voted against a series of initiatives supported by Newsom – an effort to raise taxes on commercial property, an attempt to reinstate affirmative action policies, the expansion of rent control and an anti-government law. independent contactor have been defeated. Meanwhile, Californians voted to reinstate the cash bail, which had been abolished by state Democrats.
“This all happened in a year in which the top of the ticket, Joe Biden, got 10 million votes and the president six. So there was an overwhelming vote at the top of the plate for Biden, but many of these liberal initiatives were cast down by voters.” , he said.
“I just look at the numbers and it tells me a lot that voters are really getting the message here that 20-30 years of a one-party regime – anything goes for any extreme idea in Sacramento – has really reduced the quality of life in California . ”
If there is a mid-term race, Cox said he will focus on an important neglected demographic in the state – his voters who are not registered with any of the major parties.
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Eight million of the state’s 22 million voters are not Republicans or Democrats. “It is this group that I will pursue in this recall,” said Cox. “I will pursue them based on better management of aspects of life, we have to do that.”