WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 25: US House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks at a weekly press conference at the US Capitol on February 25, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Al Drago / Getty Images) | Al Drago / Getty Images
Spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi on Thursday warned Democrats against the race in the likely California governor’s revocation election, in line with Governor Gavin Newsom’s call for party unity.
“I think it is an unnecessary notion,” Pelosi said at a news conference. “I don’t think it even reaches the level of an idea.”
Pelosi’s comments provide a powerful reinforcement of Newsom’s initial efforts to prevent other Democrats from competing in a recall that will surely occur by voters later this year. The governor’s team has acted aggressively to suppress intra-party conflicts. Pelosi threw his substantial political influence on Newsom, suggesting that national Democrats will continue to mobilize support and predicted that he would prevail.
“I think the governor is going to win this very decisively and we will all help him to do that,” said Pelosi.
The recall for governor would pose two questions to voters: whether Newsom should be recalled and who should replace him. If Newsom obtains a majority on the first question, the reserve candidate menu becomes debatable. But if voters withdraw from Newsom and there is no substitute Democrat, a Republican can claim the position of governor with a majority of the votes.
That possibility divided California’s Democrats. Some believe that the party should have a replacement candidate in case Newsom does not prevail. But the governor and his team took the opposite approach, believing that the emergence of another Democrat would undermine the party’s unity and erode Newsom’s political position.
The speaker on Thursday also extended Newsom’s counter-argument that the recall is driven by extremists and pro-Trump supporters, and she predicted that Newsom would defeat the recall and win a second term in 2022.
“I think we will defeat the initiative not because of the initiator, the Trumpites, but because of the governor’s leadership,” she said.
Recall spokesman Randy Economy replied in an email that Pelosi “needs to stay on his track”, noting that more than two million Californians have signed revocation petitions.
“San Francisco’s political elite like to protect themselves and have no respect for the people of California during this historic recall,” said Economy.