California Gov. Gavin Newsom handily defeated recall efforts aimed at removing him from office following his relentless and hypocritical lockdown, social, and economic policies during his tenure.
Shortly following Newsom’s victory, Republican challenger Larry Elder conceded to the governor, telling a cheering crowd that “we may have lost the battle, but we are going to win the war.” Elder told supporters to “stay tuned.”
According to election results, Elder far outperformed the other 46 candidates who opted to replace Newsom. Had the recall succeeded, Elder would have replaced Newsom as governor.
Gov. Newsom will remain in the Governor’s Mansion, despite reports of alleged voter discrepancies.
The Torrance Police Department, along with the U.S. Postal Service and the Los Angeles County District Attorney, began investigating how a convicted felon had more than 300 mail-in ballots for the recall election in his vehicle.
Further reports of ballot discrepancies were revealed in San Fernando Valley after residents went to El Camino Real Charter High School to vote. Upon their arrival, they were told that the technological system marked they had “already voted,” when in fact, they had not voted yet.
One of those residents is Estelle Bender, 88, told KTLA that she was not the only person to leave “really angry” after having to fill out a provisional ballot, adding there were several more individuals who were told the same thing.
45th President Donald Trump released a statement on Monday criticizing the use of mail-in ballots in California’s election.
Trump alleged that “millions and millions” of mail-in ballots will “make this just another giant Election Scam, no different, but less blatant” than the “2020 Presidential Election Scam!”
Sean Clegg, a strategist for Gov. Newsom, noted that there is no scenario where the governor would lose the recall.
“I don’t see a scenario where we’re not talking about a victory for the governor and a complete rejection of this appalling partisan power grab,” said Clegg.
Gavin Newsom is now the second governor to survive recall efforts. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was the first governor to survive recall efforts in 2012.