In recall homestretch, GOP kicks in $250,000 to reach voters who want to oust Newsom
The national Republican Party is wading into the campaign to oust Gov. Gavin Newsom, chipping in $250,000 for an outreach campaign aimed at persuading more voters to sign recall petitions.
This buy-in from national party leaders comes one month before signature collection deadline and is intended to help the final push to put a recall on the ballot.
The contribution will pay for a digital and texting program encouraging Californians to sign a petition to put a recall on the ballot sometime later this year, the RNC said.
The campaign intends to target California Republican households with a link to sign the recall petition and other needed recall activities. As part of its investment, the GOP plans to recruit volunteers nationwide to make calls to California households urging them to sign the recall petition.
“Gov. Newsom’s authoritarian measures, blatant overreach and complete mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic have proven that he is woefully unqualified to lead the state of California,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement. “At a time when families and small businesses have needed it most, Newsom and California Democrats have been unable to provide meaningful leadership, and the repercussions have been devasting. It is time the people use their Constitutional recourse to remove him from power.”
Recall organizers have until March 17 to collect 1.5 million signatures needed to qualify for a recall election. As of Thursday, the campaign reports having more than 1.4 million signatures. Petition signatures need to be validated by local elections officials before they can be officially counted towards a recall.
The RNC’s contribution is the second-largest donation to the effort to recall the Democratic governor to date, with the first being a $500,000 contribution from Orange County investor John Kruger, who said he was unhappy with Newsom’s policies on keeping churches closed during the pandemic.
The recall petition started as a grassroots effort led by a handful of Californians. Although organizers say they remain mostly volunteer-powered, the California Republican Party in recent months has taken up the mantle of recalling the governor, openly supporting the effort to oust him and encouraging others to sign the petition.
Dan Newman, a Newsom strategist, said the RNC donation points to the recall effort being a partisan ploy.
“It just exposes what’s been clear from the very beginning: this Republican recall is a partisan political ploy,” Newman said, naming two Republicans who’ve announced plans to challenge Newsom. “It’s designed to support Trump sycophants like John Cox and Kevin Faulconer who want to be governor.”
“Republicans are a desperate and dying party in California,” he added. “They haven’t won a single statewide election in 15 years.”
California Republican Party Chair Jessica Millan Patterson said the national committee is investing in the state party because it knows that “every single penny will be invested to strengthen the party’s ongoing work, including engaging those who are being punished by radical Democrat policies, and to fight, win, and recall Gavin Newsom.”
Even though the recall campaign continues to gather petition signatures, it’s unclear whether Californians will vote to oust Newsom in the event of an election. Recent polls show the governor’s approval rating hovering around 50%. Two Republicans, businessman Cox and former San Diego Mayor Faulconer, both formally launched their campaigns within the last month.
Democrats, meanwhile, are circling around the governor as he goes on the defensive. Last month he lifted stay-at-home orders across the state and is pushing hard for a deal with the Legislature on reopening schools. In recent weeks, he’s been traveling to vaccination super sites around the state to promote his work on the coronavirus pandemic, one of the key points of criticism for his administration.
Rob Stutzman, a California Republican consultant who worked under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said there’s good strategic reasons for national Republicans to be getting in on the recall.
“It puts a substantial figure in the party in a blue state on the defensive, that will cost tens of millions of dollars,” he said.
Stutzman said Republicans will have to be careful not to feed into the notion that this is only a Republican-led effort, or else it will be easier for Newsom to counter the recall.
“It does help Newsom maintain this frame that it’s a purely partisan effort,” he said of the RNC contribution. “It’s really important for him to make this about Republicans versus him, or he’ll lose control of it.”
This story was originally published February 12, 2021 at 10:19 AM with the headline "In recall homestretch, GOP kicks in $250,000 to reach voters who want to oust Newsom."