California Governor Gavin Newsom
Republican ideas are not very popular, as is reflected in GOP election losses at the presidential level, in control of the U.S. Congress, and in a number of states. Nowhere is this more apparent than in California, where the voters routinely choose Democrats for virtually every statewide office. Rather than coming up with better policies and trying to sell them to voters, however, California Republicans instead have tried to circumvent the regular election process by commencing recall petition drives against California Governors. Backed by Republican millionaires, these recall petitions, which can get on the ballot as special elections, attempt to throw out the Democratic Governor and replace him with a Republican. The last time the Republicans tried this in California — against Governor Gray Davis in 2003 — it worked, and the result was the disastrous era of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now, the Republicans are at it again, and have forced a special election on September 14 to determine whether Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom should be recalled (and, hopefully for the GOP, replaced by a Republican).
However, Governor Newsom and the Democrats are not standing by idly. They have launched various “Vote No” campaigns, including personal appearances by Newsom and others. Even President Joe Biden is lending his support:
Gov. @GavinNewsom is leading California through unprecedented crises—he's a key partner in fighting the pandemic and helping build our economy back better. To keep him on the job, registered voters should vote no on the recall election by 9/14 and keep California moving forward.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 13, 2021
Part of this Democratic campaign is a large effort to get out the vote by sending hand-written postcards to California Democratic voters. We have a bunch of postcards on the way here to be written, and are really looking forward to joining this grassroots effort. The following are some resources to be part of this nationwide postcard writing campaign to save Governor Newsom’s duly won seat:
–To get registered to receive names and addresses, text JOIN to (484) 275-2229.
–To get voter-themed postcards, Etsy has a Postcards to Voters store. Our postcards are coming from there.
–Amazon, likewise, has a large selection of voter postcards.
–The U.S. Postal Service in theory has inexpensive blank postcards that include the $ .39 postage. However, we checked at two local post offices, as well as at USPS.gov and Stamps.com, and could not find any. You may have better luck at your post office. We do wonder whether Donald Trump‘s hand-picked USPS saboteur Louis DeJoy is partly responsible for the shortage.
–On Twitter, the hashtags #PostcardsToVoters and #VoteNoOnTheRecall have plenty of good information, as does Tony the Democrat (Twitter @DemocratWit, email postcards@tonythedemocrat.org.), who began this postcard-writing movement in 2017.
Governor Newsom has a lot to run on in the September 14 election, in addition to the unfairness in having to run again between regular gubernatorial elections. For example, Newsom can talk about California’s healthy budget surplus, which paved the way for his new program giving school children free lunch at school each day. Likewise, Newsom can point to California’s improving results during the COVID pandemic, in particular during the current nationwide spike in Delta Variant cases. Due to Newsom’s proactive steps such as requiring K-12 school students to wear masks, requirements for adults in many situations (such as public transit and retail establishments) also to mask up, and vaccination requirements for people attending very large gatherings, California is posting much lower COVID numbers than Republican-run states like Florida and Texas.
But Newsom’s successful record as California Governor might not matter if too many Democratic voters stay home on September 14. The way the California recall election works, if Gov. Newsom does not get 50 percent of the vote (a very large number, especially when numerous candidates will be vying for a slice of the pie), then the candidate with the most votes, even if it is a tiny amount, becomes Governor. The winner could even be well-known conservative radio talk show host and conspiracy theorist Larry Elder. That’s why these hand-written postcards urging California Democrats to come out and vote No on recalling Newsom is such a good idea, in addition to being fun and empowering.
Photo by Shiny Things, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/QtASEg
