Newsom Remains California Governor

Gov. Gavin Newsom resoundingly defeated a recall effort in Tuesday’s special election. Newsom’s victory was boosted by a healthy voter turnout.

With an estimated two-thirds of ballots counted, “no” on the question of whether to recall Newsom was ahead by a 60 percent margin. That lead was built on votes cast by mail in advance of Tuesday’s in-person balloting. While likely to shrink in the days ahead as votes cast at polling places are counted, Newsom’s lead cannot be overcome.

“‘No’ is not the only thing that was expressed tonight,” Newsom said. “I want to focus on what we said ‘yes’ to as a state: We said yes to science, we said yes to vaccines, we said yes to ending this pandemic.”