Recall Effort Against Gov. Gavin Newsom Ignites in California
One reason for the public anger: Newsom Cut $100M from fire prevention budget before the Los Angeles Area Mega-Fires.

In my first post on the Great Los Angeles Fires, which will go down a historic conflagration on par with Rome or Chicago, I predicted that the blazes would incinerate his future presidential aspirations.
When I wrote that piece, I envisioned him sinking into obscurity after term-limiting out of his current position. I thought he would do the presidential debate circuit and maybe bow out early (like Kamala Harris).
However, as the inferno continues in Los Angeles and people discover the depth and breadth of his ineptitude, a second recall effort is being launched.
A recall attempt to knock California Gov. Gavin Newsom out of office is underway as he faces sharp criticism for his handling of the Los Angeles wildfires — with opponents labeling his leadership a “series of catastrophic failures.”
Organizers against Newsom vowed to file papers in the next two weeks in hopes of jumpstarting the process that could lead to the Democrat’s ouster in the middle of his second term in the governor’s mansion.
The state chief executive — along with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass — is fighting for his political life as the wildfires have torched more than 40,000 acres (62.5 square miles, almost three times the size of Manhattan), destroyed more than 12,000 structures and killed at least 24 people.
“Under the reign of Governor Newsom, living in California has become impossible for average people through years of poor policies which have increased the costs of living, increased crime, increased drug use and homelessness, increased the cost of burden [sic] on small businesses and communities, while decreasing our professional standards, education standards, the disappearance of billions of taxpayers’ dollars to failed pet programs, and our public services,” one recall organizer, Randy Economy, said in a statement.
I have observed that the Trump-nominee confirmation hearings and the California politicos’ handling of the fires have combined to be exceedingly damaging to the Democrats. Unfortunately for the Democrats, the new media (especially X) has jumped so far ahead of the news cycle that attempts to smother the LA Fire Story and Newsom’s failures are failing…and the mocking of the Senators is a continuous stream of entertainment.
Legal Insurrection readers may remember the colossal deficit California is facing because tax revenues are not as robust because people are fleeing. As a result, Newsom chose to slash the funding for wildfire and forest resilience by $101 million as part of a series of cutbacks, according to an analysis by the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office.
An analysis of California’s 2024 Budget Bill, which covers its budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year, by the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office concluded it slashed $101 million from seven “wildfire and forest resilience” programs.
The California Analyst’s Office is an impartial body that analyses the economic impact of proposed laws and is overseen by the state legislature’s Legislative Budget Committee.
Cuts included a reduction of $5 million in spending on CAL FIRE fuel reduction teams, including funds used to pay for vegetation management work by the California National Guard. This left the total available for this scheme at $129 million.
An additional $4 million was removed from a forest legacy program aimed at encouraging good management practices from landowners whilst $28 million was slashed from funds provided to multiple state conservancies to increase wildfire resilience.
Furthermore, Newsom has not handled the intense pressure of disaster response well. His interview, where he fidgeted while callously dismissing concerns about developers taking advantage of the tragedy, is a particularly deep low for him.
I watched this w/out sound at first and thought it had to be manipulated. Nope. Besides the weird shoulder shimmy, what is it with Newsom and Bass and the serial killer grin during a horrific tragedy? https://t.co/rnWHECsCqm
— Steve Gordon (@stevemgordon67) January 13, 2025
Though Newsom did manage to arrange for millions to be spent on illegal immigrants and climate crisis nonsense.
California is the richest state with the highest taxes and yet it cut funding for firefighting, which led directly to L.A.'s catastrophic fires. Why? Because Newsom & Bass diverted billions from preventing and fighting catastrophic fires to migrants, homeless, and climate. pic.twitter.com/FVckx9qaDU
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) January 15, 2025
Legal Insurrection readers may also remember that Newsom survived a recall effort in 2021. I warned everyone he would. One of the factors is there wasn’t a replacement option that appealed to most people.
However, the destruction of one of America’s Great Cities under his leadership inspires people to weigh the recall option more seriously this time. We will see if there is someone the entire state can unite around for effective leadership, should the recall petition achieve enough votes.
Perhaps California might opt for its own real estate tycoon and create a Mar-A-Lago on the West Coast…
Rick Caruso for Governor?
Why not? https://t.co/RNUMeRoll2— Dillon Wade Morse (@dillonwademorse) January 13, 2025

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Comments
I see what you did there!
Noisome’s political prospects just went up in smoke. Maybe he can try smelt tending….
They should change the famous “HOLLYWOOD” sign to “INCOMPETENCE.”
Indeed, what’s the point of recalling Newsom if voters simply replace him with another socialist idiot, as they no doubt would.
And since people are *blaming* Rick Caruso for having the temerity for not allowing his property to burn down with the rest of Pacific Palisades, I doubt he could successfully be elected.
But what do I know? My state sent Warren & Markey to the Senate, two progressives that together couldn’t think their way out of a paper bag.
He’s so stupid he would light a cigarette next to a fueling tanker truck whose warning sign reads, “inflammable contents.”
Well, it’s INflammable. That’s like INedible.
Hahaha — “ignites” — I like it!
“Newsom’s lofty political ambitions have turned into ash, after the latest, horrific demonstration of his glaring incompetence. The governor’s plans to attain the White House now lie upon a blazing funeral pyre for which he has provided the kindling, fuel and spark.”
Didn’t they have a surplus at one point from the Covid funds? That video of him with the shoulder move looks like he’s lying about the land developers. I’m sure he and Bass and all of the other creep pols are making money off of this somehow.
If Newsom is recalled, the voters of California would replace him with somebody as bad, maybe even worse. Last year in California, Kamala Harris – the worst major party nominee in the history of American politics – beat Donald Trump, one of the best retail politicians in the last 100-years, by 20-points. California is lost because the urban areas are simply far too dense and overwhelm the rest of vast state.
“The mobs of great cities add just so much to support of pure government as sores do to the strength of the human body,”
-Thomas Jefferson
This is probably going nowhere, but I appreciate the vote of no-confidence. Believe it or not, much of SoCal is based and hated Hairgel’s guts even before this fiasco.
One of my last acts as a registered voter in CA was to sign the last recall petition against him and attend a recall rally at the Huntington Beach pier in 2020. By the time of the election in 2021 I was already an Idaho resident so could not vote against him. Just another missed opportunity for Californians.
The CA state assembly is under control of dem super majority. After gov davis was recalled, they refused cooperation with Arnold. Very little got done. Its not sufficient to simply replace the governor and expect anything meaningful to change in CA. The primary objective of the dem party is to maintain control for the dem party, not serve voters.
CA has plenty of tax revenue. The problem is the dumbass spending on BS boondoggles. So long as the priorities for spending are so untethered from legitimate functions of gov’t they will fail the public. No bailout from Uncle Sugar and the rest of the federal taxpayers should be offered up.
First, it would be better politically for Newsom to remain in place so as to ensure he owns the failure completely. If he is recalled (or resigns to avoid recall) there will no doubt be a move to ‘rehabilitate’ him for the 2028 election. Mr. Newsom needs to be accountable.
Second, one reason why Laficornia has a budget deficit is that it continues to spend lavishly on illegal immigrants. The deficit wouldn’t go away completely but would certainly be more manageable. Instead, the legislators there just granted every illegal immigrant unlimited health care, just because.
Gooder and harder, Laficornia, and keep your governor.
After one of the greatest domestic failures of state government in recent history, Newsom’s approval is still at 46%. There’s no fixing California, unfortunately.
Gov newscum going ramp up the leftist propaganda and blame “climate change” which is the fault of “big oil” and trump. Dems will double down on stupid and vote for anybody with large D in front of their name on the ballot. CA is lost cause.
Hey, they say the third time is the charm.
Of course, this is just the second time, so get through it ASAP, snowflakes, so you can get to the good stuff.
“I watched this w/out sound at first and thought it had to be manipulated. Nope. Besides the weird shoulder shimmy, what is it with Newsom and Bass and the serial killer grin during a horrific tragedy?”
The same with Kamala’s cackle. It’s his tell, his signal that he knows he is way out of his depth — though he’d be out of his depth in a kiddie pool.
Here’s the problem with CA. Think of CA as a large tree and its governor and legislators as the fruit of that tree. When one piece of fruit is diseased or poisoned, selecting another piece of fruit from the same tree results in the same poisoned fruit. Many good people have left that state because they see the futility of voting for the opposition.
True, I’m one who left. I felt like I had a form of voter PTSD after I left. It took me a couple years before I could bring myself to register to vote in Idaho, I’d been on the losing end for so long in CA. It really got bad after they stole the 2018 election in my congressional district, installing the execrable Katie Porter. It was readily apparent that reform via the democratic was now impossible. I will be surprised if these fires substantively change the CA political landscape. Too many vested interests, and even if climate change wackos are discredited, the state legislature is still a wholly owned subsidiary of the public sector employees’ unions.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
Recall Newsom?
Heck, in a few days nobody will even be able to recall Biden.
To be fair, Biden hasn’t done anything presidential in years.