The effort to force a revocation vote against California Governor Gavin Newsom seems increasingly likely, as more than 1.4 million signatures were collected by Thursday, according to the Recall Gavin Campaign.
Proponents of the recall effort hope to reach 2 million signatures by March 17, but only 1.5 million are needed to trigger an election mid-year.
The Democratic governors’ recall campaign was launched by Orrin Heatlie, president of the California Patriot Coalition, but other groups joined the effort – including Republican Congressional candidate Joe Collins, who launched a 28-day “Recall Trip” earlier this week. week.
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Collins will visit 16 cities that attract Californians frustrated by the Democratic governor’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. It will collect signatures.
“Gavin has been less than mediocre for California,” Collins told Fox News on Thursday.
The Los Angeles native believes that California has become a “breeding ground” for the virus “due to a lack of leadership”.
“Instead of giving money to illegal immigrants, he should have returned to small businesses … he should have been transparent about why he decided to close California,” said Collins.
California has seen the highest number of coronavirus cases across the country, although the total death toll in the state is still behind that of New York. But a recent spike in cases has prompted the governor to apply a new round of orders to stay home late last year, infuriating California Republicans.
The state on December 15 saw its highest number of daily cases in the entire pandemic, with more than 53,700 confirmed cases. But after nearly two months of tightening restrictions, cases plummeted at Golden State, with just over 13,000 cases reported on Wednesday.
Collins argued that, as the death rate remained relatively low, “closing companies should not have been the solution”.
“Instead, shut down targeted public areas,” he said, adding that only those most at risk of contracting the virus should have been restricted to requests to stay at home. “I think the best solution is to listen to what people want,” he continued.
He also condemned Newsom’s decision in November to eat out at the sophisticated French Laundry restaurant, after advising Californians to stay home for the holidays, and said the Democratic leader should not “be a hypocrite”.
Although Newsom later admitted that he should have “modeled better behavior”, despite the outdoor meal meeting state guidelines, his decisions during the last two months of 2020 fueled much anger at the Republican Party in the West Coast state.
But new research by the Berkeley Institute for Governmental Studies – which interviewed 10,000 Californians – found that Newsom’s revocation may not be popular with voters, despite the increasing chances that the revocation vote will be held.
Only 36% of respondents in California said they support the effort – the vast majority of whom identified themselves as Republicans, while 45% of respondents said they would support the governor. Another 19% of voters said they remain undecided.
But Collins told Fox News that after speaking with California voters, he is confident that Newsom is facing a real threat in the revocation vote.
“There are many people who think we deserve better,” he said.
Collins is running to oust Representative Maxine Waters – a Democrat who served 15 terms in the House – in the 2022 election. He has yet to endorse any candidate running for Newsom’s potentially vulnerable government.
“If the Republican Party cannot distribute valid candidates, I will have to go in and see what I can do,” he told Fox News.
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Several Republicans – including former San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer – have announced their intention to run against Newsom if a mid-year election is triggered in March.
California has reported nearly 3.3 million cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began, with nearly 42,500 deaths so far.
Fox News contacted Gavin Newsom to interview Zoom about the recall, but he did not respond to the request.