Today, my family received our recall ballots in the mail, along with many other Californians. We decide Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political fate on September 14.
While I am chomping at the bit to vote, I plan to hold off as I would like to assess the potential replacement candidates a bit more. Given the current news and political environment, it’s best to see any “black swans” or “August surprises” before making a final determination.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is drawing cartoons to help their voters vote correctly.
Despite this “help,” it is clear that Newsom is worried that the recall effort will be successful. His newest ad asserts that recall election will be “a matter of life and death” amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The ad contrasted Newsom’s approach to implementing vaccine requirements with that of his top Republican challenger, the conservative radio host Larry Elder.As numbers of new virus infections rose in California with the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant, Newsom announced a vaccine mandate for health care workers and last week implemented a similar mandate for teachers and school staff as children began returning to their classrooms for in-person instruction. While Newsom’s Stop the Republican Recall campaign said in the ad the Democrat was “protecting California,” it said Elder was encouraging “deadly” conspiracy theories.”What’s at stake in the September 14 recall? It’s a matter of life and death,” a narrator says at the beginning of the 30-second ad.
It seems the media regrets its decision to put all the eggs in the Newsom basket since they’re putting a spotlight on someone else. Several news outlets assert that YouTube millionaire and “centrist Democrat” Kevin Paffrath could be the candidate to beat.
Paffrath is a registered Democrat and self-declared centrist who voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. While he’s highly critical of Newsom and says he’s been a “failed leader,” Paffrath is equally concerned that the Democratic Party has no emergency plan.Should more than half of California voters support the recall on their ballots, the next governor would be whichever of the 46 successor candidates gets the most votes, making it much easier for an outsider to win. Paffrath is one of the nine candidates listed as a Democrat, but party leaders are urging a “No” vote to the recall effort and saying voters should skip the second question asking who should be governor if the recall succeeds.“It was mind-blowing to us that they didn’t put at least somebody in, so that way, worst case, they had a hail mary,” Paffrath said in an interview on Friday over a coffee, after attending a Newsom press event in San Francisco.In an early August poll by Survey USA, Paffrath had the most votes in the field of replacements, with 27%. The next six candidates are all Republicans, including conservative talk show host Larry Elder and reality TV star and former Olympic athlete Caitlyn Jenner.“We think in the last two weeks of this campaign if the recall looks more and more likely, the Democratic party will be forced to pick a Hail Mary back-up candidate,” Paffrath said. “Given that we’re No. 1 in the polls, we hope that’s us.”
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