California Politics In For Twists And Turns In 2021 After Governor Recall Qualifies
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - Governor Newsom's recall election is a big step toward becoming reality.
The California Secretary of State announced the recall effort has qualified with enough signatures to put it on a state-wide ballot, setting up what could be a fall recall election.
The 1.5 million signatures now validated sets up what is expected to be some wild campaigning.
Steve Maviglio served as spokesperson for Gray Davis, the last and only California governor to be recalled. That was in 2003.
"You gotta remember 2003, there was no social media, so now you have a lot of people just trying to take advantage of it for publicity purposes, we had porn stars last time, we had comedians last time, we had students last time," Maviglio said. "I think you're gonna see that whole array of a clown show expand."
So far only 10 candidates have filed statements of intention to run in the recall election, including former Olympian and transgender rights advocate Caitlyn Jenner, businessman John Cox, and former congressman Doug Ose.
"We won't know until September who actually is going to get in," Maviglio said. "I would expect 300-400 candidates this time around."
The qualifying of signatures now opens a new 30-day window allowing voters seeking to withdraw their signatures to do so.
Then, there's another 30-day window for the finance department to determine the cost of the recall election. This followed by 30 days for lawmakers to comment on that estimate.
The L.A. Times reports some experts put the estimated cost to taxpayers at $400 million.
Once ballots are drawn up, voters will be asked two questions:
Should Governor Newsom be Recalled? And if more than 50 percent of voters say yes, who should replace him?
There is no set date when the recall Election Day will hit, but it will likely be in October or November.
If Governor Newsom is not removed, he will also be running for office again, in what would be a general election next year in 2022.
