California recall enters final phase with little excitement, drama - Los Angeles Times

The recall campaign against California Gov.

The tentative candidate lineup revealed by state election officials appeared to do little to change the dynamics of the race, where a group of mostly Republicans face an uphill battle to unseat Newsom in a solidly Democratic state, at least for now.

In 2003, this was an unprecedented political event.”.

State elections officials announced late Saturday that 41 candidates had filed valid paperwork and met other requisites to appear on the recall ballot to replace Newsom, kicking off the final phase of campaigning before the Sept.

Secretary of State Shirley Weber will release a certified list of names that will appear on the ballot on Wednesday.

It’s a far cry from the 2003 recall election of then-Gov.

Gray Davis, a media spectacle where 135 candidates appeared on the ballot in a campaign that drew global attention.

The current recall has not captured the public imagination the way the prior one did.

Political experts say that’s because this effort appears less likely to succeed and lacks the novelty of California’s first gubernatorial recall.

Conservative radio host Larry Elder, who said he filed papers to run, did not appear on the state list.

“Our campaign submitted every document required by the Secretary of State and the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters late Friday afternoon, shortly before the two offices closed,” Elder’s campaign said in a statement.

The candidates will bring different constituencies to the polls that will be united in their support of recalling Newsom, said Anne Hyde Dunsmore, campaign manager for Rescue California, one of the main recall proponents.

In addition to polls showing voters oppose the recall, Democrats have a 22-point advantage over Republicans in voter registration, and the anti-recall campaign has raised over $28 million, more than all of the GOP candidates combined.

Prior recall efforts failed to gather enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, but this effort qualified after recall proponents received four extra months to gather signatures because of the pandemic, and they were able to tap voter frustration over school and economic closures because of COVID-19.

Polling shows that Republicans are more energetic and motivated to vote on the recall than Democrats, and they believe disaffected Democrats and no-party preference voters will also turn out in favor of the recall.

The anti-recall committee, the state party and labor unions plan to use their money and members to spend the next eight weeks reaching out to voters.

“Our campaign is wholly focused on motivating those Democrats, telling them what’s at stake, who is behind the recall, the Republican forces behind it,” Click said, adding that the people behind the recall want to eliminate gun control and environmental laws and are anti-immigrant.

Republicans are debating whether to allow the state GOP to endorse a candidate, a proposal that is causing friction between party leaders, who say the party needs to weigh in on the race, and grass-roots activists, who believe the process is being rigged to favor Faulconer, a favorite of the party establishment including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

On Friday, the party’s rules committee will consider a bylaw proposal that would require a recall candidate seeking an endorsement to gather 200 delegate signatures to be considered.

“We’re a political party, and it’s too important of a race of a special election to sit it out and not at least give the option to our delegates to endorse,” said party spokesperson Ellie Hockenbury.

Newsom’s campaign erred in failing to file paperwork that would have allowed his Democratic party designation to appear on the ballot.

However, eight Democrats did file papers to qualify for the ballot.

“I don’t believe that makes me anti-Democrat,” Paffrath said, adding that he believed all Californians, regardless of political party, should be voting for the recall because “there is no way Gov.

The lack of a major Democratic candidate on the ballot is a precarious strategy for Democrats — if the recall is successful, the next governor will almost certainly be a Republican.

But not allowing another Democrat on the ballot is an extraordinary risk,” Schnur said.

“All it takes is an unexpected twist in a low-turnout election and Democrats are left with no fallback plan at all.”.

“Newsom’s under this huge microscope, with a lot of plates being spun on the end of sticks right now that could fall off before this election,” said Rob Stutzman, a veteran GOP strategist who worked on Schwarzenegger’s successful campaign during the 2003 recall.

Seema Mehta is a reporter who covered the 2020 campaign, the fourth presidential race she has written about for the Los Angeles Times