As a California resident, I intend to vote no on recalling Governor Newsom. I think that the partisan Republican attempt to remove him is a terrible idea. Newsom has tried his best to help mitigate the curveballs that COVID-19 has thrown our way. And sure, being observed publicly going out to dinner at the chic French Laundry after telling his constituents to lockdown was a stupid move, but it certainly is nothing worth being recalled over. The last thing this state needs now is a DeSantis-style Governor mucking things up.
That said, I just received my sample ballot and came to the conclusion that I have seen nothing about what people feel the best Democratic option is should the recall succeed. Originally, I planned to write-in Newsom, but after looking around online it appears that wouldn’t work, would be a waste of a vote, and would aid the opposition. I then considered not selecting a replacement choice, but once again this would also benefit the Republicans by denying any other potential Democratic challenger my vote.
So… Does anybody here have a recommendation for who the best progressive Democrat would be? I hope the recall does not succeed. But if it does, I think the best case scenario would be to end up with a new Governor that is even MORE progressive than Newsom. That would probably make Republican heads explode. And maybe then they’d think twice before attempting another recall in the future.
P.S.
After writing this diary, I saw this article:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-09/newsom-wants-voters-to-skip-the-recall-ballots-second-part-they-dont-have-to
If the official Democratic position is to leave the second part of the ballot blank then they are ignorant and foolish. There’s no guarantee that the recall will be voted down, and having zero contingency plan for that possibility is terribly short sighted. It’s like the people who planned the Titanic’s maiden voyage thinking that they didn’t need to have enough lifeboats for everyone on board because she was unsinkable. We all know how that one turned out.