But State Democratic Bastion Shaken
As the fate of California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom hang in limbo amid the brutally fraught Sept. 14 Recall election, most shows indicate that he is more than likely to retain his stronghold against a hasty competitive political power struggle spurned out of spite of his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic response.
FiveThirtyEight’s polling average shows Newsom with an edge of 10.4 percentage points over the pro-recall effort (53% to 42.6%), up from 5.6 points at the end of August. A poll last week from the Public Policy Institute of California said that 58% of likely voters would vote against the recall.
However, Newsom and the Democratic party are not taking anything for granted heading into the final days before the polls close and have summoned their heavy hitters in a robust effort to stave off bombastic conservative radio talk show host Larry Elder who is the greatest threat to the governor.
During slew of rallies, Newsom has received support from his biggest allies including President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, United States Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Southern California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Los Angeles Congresswoman Karen Bass and Northern California Congresswoman Barbara Lee to name a few.
The state’s unions having been pouring mountains of cash into Newsom coffers, of the nearly $39 million raised by the campaign so far, almost half, $17 million, is from public and private sector unions.
California Correctional Peace Officers Association, wrote his campaign a $1.75 million check. The
California Teachers Association chipped in $1.8 million and their national partner, the American Federation of Teachers, contributed $250,000 to Newsom.
The 2021 recall is will shed yet another spotlight on California’s booming Latino population which represented 32 percent of registered voters in 2020 and also the shrinking electorate of the Black population which is just at 7.1 percent, but still powerful enough to swing an election.
Since the last California recall election, UCLA LPPI estimates that there has been nearly a 126% increase of Latino voters and 94% increase for Asian American voters. During the past 20 years, the white voting population in California was largely unchanged.
Because the Recall is occurring during an off election cycle, Newsom is banking on churning out most of the more than 10 million registered Democrats, a commanding 50 percent of the electorate.
While it appears that Republicans with just 24 percent of California registered voters has a snow ball chance of dethroning Newsom, Elder has made them nervous.
The 69-year old Elder who hails from Los Angeles and was graduated from Crenshaw High School, is an Ivy league educated zealot who aligns himself with former President Donald Trump and although Black has a penchant for alienating minorities and the Black community as a shock radio host.
Among the many off the scale comments Elder has made one of the most alarming was when he argued that slavery was legal and slave owners deserve compensation.
Elder made that comment during a July 18 appearance on Dennis Prager University’s “The Candace Owens Show,” that an argument could be made in favor of reparations for slave owners whose legal “property” was taken from them after the Civil War.
He has “repeatedly twisted crime statistics to portray Black people as more violent than whites,” and also vilified African American political, religious and community leaders, as well as our organizations and institutions.
The mere fact that he is leading 46 potential Newsom replacements in the Recall effort should awaken every eligible voter in the state, and God forbid if the these polls are wrong and this man becomes governor.
