California Republican Party Won’t Endorse Any Candidate in Recall Election
24 Republican candidates are vying to replace California Governor Gavin Newsom in September’s recall election.
Wisely, the California Republican Party will not endorse a candidate. The action probably would be the “kiss of death” for any candidate.
The party voted overwhelmingly on Saturday not to endorse a candidate in the September race over concerns that throwing their support behind one of the Republican candidates would divide the party and lead some voters to stay home, The Associated Press reported.Roughly 90 percent of the delegates who were at the party’s virtual meeting supported not endorsing one candidate, the AP noted. They were reportedly planning on choosing which candidate to endorse out of a small group of four, according to Politico.
The argument is that the party wants to focus on the first question on the ballot: Do you vote to recall Newsom? If more than 50% of Californians answer “Yes,” the governorship goes to the top vote-getter in the second portion of the ballot.
“We are squarely focused on putting California back on track by recalling the worst governor in California history,” state GOP chair Jessica Millan Patterson said in a statement on Saturday.Patterson charged that “Newsom is arrogant, incompetent and a desperate politician who has failed Californians in every possible way.”The California GOP decided against backing any of the candidates who had qualified to be considered – conservative talk radio host Larry Elder, former two-term San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, state assemblyman Kevin Kiley, and former Rep. Doug Ose – after two Californians on the Republican National Committee urged against making an endorsement.The influential officials, Harmeet Dhillon and Shawn Steel, argued that backing one of the four contenders would possibly divide Republicans and depress voter turnout among those supporting the candidates that didn’t land the party’s endorsement.
Several candidates acknowledge that this was a smart move by the party.
“My compliments to Chairwoman Patterson for figuring out how to allow Republican delegates the option of No Endorsement,” Ose said in a tweet. “The Party needs to focus on Question 1. Let’s get this done!”Cox said on Twitter said he is “glad the delegates kept the focus” on recalling Newsom.
Meanwhile, Newsom is trying to build up some credibility among his supporters by basing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, facing his own uncertain political future with a recall election a month away, has joined a growing list of high-profile Democrats who support the ouster of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.Facing possible impeachment after the New York’s Attorney General’s office released a report this week detailing multiple accounts of sexual harassment in violation of state and federal laws, Cuomo has ignored calls from President Joe Biden and other elected officials across New York and the country to resign, instead choosing to dig in his heels.The governor of the nation’s most populous state, also once considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, is among the latest to side with Biden.”Governor Newsom agrees with President Biden and others that Governor Cuomo should be held accountable for his actions and resign,” spokeswoman Erin Mellon told USA TODAY on Friday.Newsom had previously declined to take a stance on Cuomo’s future. In March, he told “The View” that it was up to New Yorkers and the governor whether he should leave office.”It’s more difficult for me, 3,000 miles away, as a fellow governor, to opine beyond that,” Newsom said at the time.
It just goes to show that a recall election will put the steel in anyone’s spine.
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