California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has suggested a racist motive behind the effort to call him back, saying the petitioners fear that California is becoming less white under his leadership.
“Look at the petition, see the real reasons they listed themselves. It has to do with immigration. California ‘Browning’,” said Newsom, using quotes in the air to emphasize “Browning.”
Newsom spoke to reporters on Tuesday at an elementary school in Alameda County, California. The petition for its withdrawal does not mention race. He states, among other reasons for his departure: “The laws he passed favor foreigners, in our country illegally, to the detriment of our own citizens.”
Newsom said that his struggle to remain governor “has to do deeply with our values, the things we consider to be expensive and therefore I am not just fighting for myself, I am fighting for you”.
Newsom acknowledged that the question of its removal would be voted on.
“The reality is that it looks like it’s on the ballot, so we’re ready to go,” Newsom told reporters. “We will fight it, we will defeat it.”
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The withdrawal petition was motivated by Newsom’s strict treatment of the coronavirus pandemic, but the governor said it was fueled by far-right conspiracy theorists and supporters of Donald Trump.
“The main proponent believes that we should microchip the immigrants,” the governor of California told reporters. “Look at his original sponsors, you have someone who is … a proud member of the three percent – an alt-right militia group. Others who are devoted conspiracy theorists who believe in Q-Anon. Another who literally supports the insurrection, supported on January 6. This is the group ”, he concluded.
However, more than 2 million people signed the petition.
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Newsom also tried to step back in some surprising comments he made on Monday on MSNBC, telling Joy Reid that he already had “several” candidates in mind to replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein if she retired.
The comments were a response to the fact that he replaced Feinstein with a black senator after Vice President Kamala Harris left her Senate seat to enter the White House.
But Feinstein, 87, still has three more years to go.
The US Senator from California supported Newsom on Tuesday, telling reporters that people misinterpreted the governor’s comments and accused his critics of making “a mountain out of a small hill,” Politico reported.
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“It was a chance. I hope she fulfills her mandate,” Newsom said on Tuesday. “I was directly questioned, having to answer direct questions.”
“I may have to work on it,” he added, saying he would avoid answering hypothetical questions in the future.