Newsom faces new recall effort amid California’s budget deficit, public safety crisis

California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom is facing another recall effort amid the state’s budget deficit and public safety crisis, Politico reported Monday.

Rescue California, a citizen-led group, recently announced that it has launched another effort to get a recall vote of the governor on the upcoming state ballot. The group told the news outlet they will serve Newsom’s office with recall papers on Monday.

According to the group’s website, they believe Newsom “has abandoned the state to advance his Presidential ambitions, leaving behind a $68 Billion budget deficit and a public safety, immigration and education crisis.”

They argue that the governor should be removed from his position for providing 700,000 illegal immigrants with free health care, which is costing California taxpayers $3 billion per year. The group slammed Newsom for “cutting vital programs for veterans, school children, the disabled and the homeless.”

Furthermore, Rescue California stated that Newsom kept that state’s public schools closed, citing COVID, longer than other governors, which led to significant learning loss.

They also blamed Newsom for releasing dangerous criminals, weakening public safety policies, and forcing residents to pay “the highest taxes in the nation and the highest home prices outside Hawaii.”

According to The Hill, this is the fifth attempt to remove Newsom from office. Rescue California led a recall effort against the governor in 2021. The attempt gathered enough signatures to make it on the ballot, but Newsom secured a 23-point victory over commentator and radio host Larry Elder (R).

When asked whether it is fair to blame all of California’s budget woes on the governor, Anne Hyde Dunsmore with Rescue California told Spectrum News 1, “You watched him fix a freeway in a week. You watched him clean a city in three days. He has that ability.”

“These are his decisions," Dunsmore continued. “There’s nobody … that would deny the fact that this man knows his political game like the back of his hand. He is not a novice. He’s an expert at pivoting, twisting — never really going over the line, arguably, with lying, but he is deceptive.

“He is bragging about these things as things that he is doing, like giving insurance to illegal immigrants that will cost $3 billion. He’s taking credit for the very things. So, you know what, if he wants that credit, he needs to take the responsibility. He doesn’t let anybody else take that credit,” she added.

Spectrum News 1 anchor Alex Cohen asked Dunsmore why Rescue California is leading another effort to remove the governor after the failed last attempt cost taxpayers $200 million.

Dunsmore responded, “First of all, he also spent another $95 million himself to defeat the recall... My job is to get it on the ballot and I don’t want to say ‘me.’ There’s a big ‘we’ out there. What he’s done in this term is egregious. We have three more budgets with him. Not just two more years, but three more budgets. And we’re already running a $73 billion projected budget deficit.”

“I say $200 million to get him out of office would have saved us a lot of money,” she added.

Newsom responded to the latest recall effort Monday morning, writing on X, “Trump Republicans are launching another wasteful recall campaign to distract us from the existential fight for democracy and reproductive freedom. We will defeat them.”

Nathan Click, a spokesperson for Newsom, told Politico that the governor and his office are taking the recall “seriously.”

“These Trump Republicans are targeting Gov. Newsom because he is out there defending democracy and fighting for the reelection of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. He’s not going to be distracted from that fight. Democracy’s on the ballot, and he’s going to keep fighting,” Click stated.

Democratic Senator Alex Padilla from California accused “MAGA Republicans” of “playing political games” with the latest recall campaign.

Rescue California needs approximately 1.38 million signatures by May to qualify for the November ballot, The Hill reported.

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