(Cole Lauterbach, The Center Square) California Gov. Gavin Newsom is calling on national allies in hopes to tie the state’s recall election to larger stakes.
Vice President Kamala Harris, a California native, flew into the Bay Area on Wednesday morning to attend a campaign event with the freshman governor.
“It’s good to be home!” she said to the supportive crowd six days before Californians who hadn’t already voted hit the polls.
Harris joined Newsom at the IBEW-NECA Joint Apprenticeship Training Center in San Leandro.
Harris, a former California attorney general, made a specific appeal to women to keep Newsom, referencing Texas’ recent ban on abortion in the presence of a heartbeat.
“They had this clip of the governor of Texas,” Harris said. “The words that he spoke were to arrogantly dismiss the words of rape survivors. That is not who we want in our leaders.”
Harris canceled an appearance in support of Newsom in August because of the unfolding collapse of the Afghan National Army at the hands of the Taliban.
She implored Democrats to bring as many supportive voters to the polls as possible to keep Newsom in office because losing to Republicans in a stronghold such as California would reverberate across the country.
“They think if they can do this in California, they can do it anywhere,” she said.
Newsom, who spoke before Harris, keyed in on talk show host Larry Elder, the recall candidate who consistently has polled higher than the dozens of others running.
“If we’re not successful in rejecting this recall, Larry Elder’s gonna be sworn in as your next governor,” Newsom said with the crowd booing in reaction.
Newsom’s campaign also enlisted former President Barack Obama to record a live-to-tape ad for the anti-recall effort.
Though Democrats far outnumber Republicans in California, polling has continually shown an enthusiasm gap between the two parties that has kept Newsom on the campaign trail to fight what could be his undoing: voter apathy.
Polling from FiveThirtyEight had shown likely voters largely split between keeping and ousting Newsom for much of August, though the split has widened in recent days to favor Newsom.
Should the recall succeed, whoever receives the most votes on the second ballot question would replace Newsom for his last months in office. While the Republican replacement wouldn’t likely get much through a California Legislature controlled by Democratic supermajorities in each chamber, the new executive could rescind many of Newsom’s COVID-19 mitigation orders, something Newsom said would put Californians in danger…Original Source…
