Governor of California Gavin Newsom
Gavin NewsomNewsom criticizes ‘political takeover’ amid California recall effort White House chief of staff: Young, a ‘very serious candidate’ for OMB director, Sanders asks Newsom for support in the midst of a recall effort MORE (D) during his state speech on Tuesday he defended his government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and targeted critics in the midst of a growing recall effort to remove him from office.
“I remain determined. And I just want to let you know, we are not going to change the course just because of some pessimists and pessimists, ”said Newsom. “So the California critics out there who are promoting party political power with outdated prejudices and rejecting everything that makes California truly great, we say that, we will not be distracted from being shot in the gun and our economy exploding again. This is a fight for the future of California. ”
The scolding comes at a time when the recall effort appears to be on track to garner enough signatures to force a special election that could put Newsom’s political future in jeopardy.
The organizers of the effort said on Sunday that they had collected 1.95 million signatures in support of the recall more than a week before the March 17 deadline. Only 1.5 million signatures are needed, but hundreds of thousands more are expected to be sent, with the expectation that some will be invalidated.
“This is more than enough for this initiative to qualify for a special election later this year to allow people to finally decide … what will happen to the fate and future of California Governor Gavin Newsom,” Randy Economy, the political adviser working on the effort, said Sunday.
The recall effort was sparked by fervent frustration among Republicans over Newsom’s restrictions, particularly those against meetings and closing deals. The buzz surrounding the recall got even louder in November, when the governor was spotted without a mask in a fancy restaurant that celebrated the birthday of a political adviser, in violation of his government’s guidance.
But it is not yet clear whether Newsom is in serious danger of being ousted if a special election is held. It is already difficult to remove a governor in a revocation election; 2003 was the last year that a state governor was fired. Since then, California has only gotten more blue, with registered Democrats outnumbering registered Republicans by a margin of almost 2 to 1.
Newsom briefly nodded at the criticism he suffered, saying he would learn from the mistakes he made during the pandemic.
“I know that our progress has not always been fast enough. And look, we made mistakes, I made mistakes, but we own them, we learn from them and we never stop trying, ”he said.
The governor spent most of his prime-time speech defending his response to the coronavirus, promoting, among other things, an order to stay home early – the same type of movement that prompted Republicans to try to recall him.
“We were the first state, the first state to issue a stay at home regime, which helped us to avoid the early increase in cases. The main minds of the main research institutions in our country and live science companies immediately set out to develop innovative treatments and vaccines. And while others competed to buy personal protective equipment at exorbitant prices, we quickly built our own pipeline, providing essential equipment for millions and millions of essential workers, ”he said.
The governor also highlighted California’s vaccination efforts to frame the pandemic as approaching its end, noting that 11 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine have been administered. Newsom also made a point of highlighting a decrease in daily cases from 53,000 at the state’s peak to just over 3,800 on Sunday and an 80% drop in hospitalizations.
“The building blocks of our recovery are really in place and now, we are leading the way out of this pandemic because we listened to experts and were guided by evidence. Today, the light at the end of this tunnel is brighter than ever, ”he said.