Live updates: Biden congratulates Newsom; supporters blast $276M cost for election
11:30 a.m. update: Biden says Newsom victory due to shared approach on pandemic
President Joe Biden congratulated California Gov. Gavin Newsom on his victory Wednesday morning, arguing the first-term Democrat's overwhelming win was a credit to his approach toward the COVID-19 pandemic.
"This vote is a resounding win for the approach that he and I share to beating the pandemic: strong vaccine requirements, strong steps to reopen schools safely, and strong plans to distribute real medicines — not fake treatments — to help those who get sick," Biden said in a statement. "The fact that voters in both traditionally Democratic and traditionally Republican parts of the state rejected the recall shows that Americans are unifying behind taking these steps to get the pandemic behind us."
Not every traditionally Republican part of the state rejected the recall. In fact, a majority of voters in 27 counties, largely rural ones in central and northern California, supported removing Newsom from office, according to statewide results Wednesday.
Biden's statement came just a couple of days after the president campaigned for Newsom at an event in Long Beach. At that event, he told Californians that "the eyes of the nation are on you" during this election, one of the first major ones held since the 2020 presidential contest.
— Tom Coulter
10 a.m. update: Democratic lawmakers, voters irritated by recall's price tag
The recall election that wrapped up Tuesday came at a substantial cost to taxpayers — $276 million, according to state estimates.
Some Democratic politicians, as well as people voting in the Coachella Valley, have already lamented the election’s price tag, arguing it is further evidence of the need to reform California’s recall process.
U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, a Democrat from the San Francisco area, said on social media Wednesday morning that the process needs to be changed.
“$300 million will be paid by taxpayers for the Republican fool's folly in California,” Speier said in a tweet. “Recall rules must be reformed! Newsom needed a majority to stay in office. Had voters not rejected this effort to hack our electoral process, his replacement could have won w/far fewer votes.”
Her frustration was shared by some who cast their ballots Tuesday. As he dropped off his ballot in Indian Wells on Tuesday, Dan Graff called the recall effort a "waste of money."
"We're going to have an election in a little more than a year," the La Quinta resident told The Desert Sun. "It's not going to change the fact were going to have an election in 2022."
"I think any issues we have, we can deal with then," Graff added.
State lawmakers are expected to begin discussions of possible reforms, which would have to then be approved by voters, in the coming weeks.
— Tom Coulter
8 a.m. update: Democrats, whites, older voters came out for election
Democrats and Republicans came out rather strongly during the recall election, but the state's large bloc of no party preference voters stayed more on the sidelines, data from tracking firm Political Data Inc. showed Wednesday.
Democrats make up 47% of registered voters, but 51% of all returned ballots were from them. Registered Republicans make up 24% of registered voters, but 27% of returned ballots came from them.
Voters who have identified as "no party preference," or who are aligned with a small party such as the Green Party, make up 29% of registered voters, but those people only accounted for 23% of returned ballots, Political Data Inc. said.
Less than half of voters for each party returned their ballots, however, according to a recall ballot tracker. Approximately 9.7 million ballots out of 22.2 million, or 44%, had been returned by Election Day. Ballots postmarked Tuesday, however, can still be counted.
Looking at ethnic groups, white Californians make up 58% of eligible voters, but 67% of returned ballots were from them, followed by 19% from Latinos, 12% from Asians and 3% from African American voters.
Half of white voters returned their ballots, while only 30% of Latinos cast their votes.
Voters ages 65 and older "showed up" to the polls the most compared to other age groups, making up 34% of returned ballots. The 18 to 34 age group, with 6.1 million people, the largest age group in the state, only made up 16%, or 1.5 million, of returned ballots.
— Ema Sasic
6:30 a.m. update: 'No' votes lead by 2.5 million
It was quickly determined Tuesday night that Gov. Gavin Newsom would remain in office, and as results continue to trickle in, votes against the recall election lead by more than 2.5 million, as of 2:55 a.m. Wednesday.
Conservative talk show host Larry Elder garnered the most support on Question 2, which asked which individual should replace Newsom if he were recalled. As of 2:55 a.m. Wednesday, Elder had received 2,373,551 votes, or 46.9%, compared to the other recall candidates.
Turnout was the highest in Amador and Tuolumne counties, where two-thirds of voters cast their ballots. In more populated counties such as Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange, voter turnout was 40%, 33% and 49%, respectively. Imperial County had the lowest turnout, at 16%.
— Ema Sasic
Majority of residents in 25 counties vote in favor of recall
While the recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom was quickly defeated at a statewide level, initial results indicate that most voters in more than two dozen counties — largely rural ones in central and Northern California — supported the recall strongly.
A majority of voters in 25 of 58 counties across California had voted in favor of the recall as of 11 p.m. Tuesday, according to state figures.
The counties in favor of the recall included many of the least populated in the state, such as Mariposa County and Trinity County. Results were not final in every county, with some precincts yet to be reported as of 11 p.m. Tuesday.
The largest margin in favor of the recall came in Lassen County, where 82.9% of voters opted to remove Newsom from office, with all precincts reporting. Lassen County has about 30,000 residents.
Other counties voting in favor of the recall were: Del Norte, Siskiyou, Modoc, Shasta, Tehama, Butte, Plumas, Sierra, Yuba, Sutter, Glenn, Colusa, El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, Inyo and Kern.
Meanwhile, Democratic strongholds along the coast turned out overwhelmingly in support of keeping n Newsom. In Los Angeles County, 73.6% of voters rejected the recall, while 86.7% did the same in San Francisco County, according to state figures.
— Tom Coulter
Elder: 'We may have lost the battle, but we are going to win the war'
After several news outlets had called the race in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s favor, the leading candidate vying to replace the first-term Democrat conceded in a speech given around 10 p.m. Tuesday.
Conservative talk show host Larry Elder, who was leading the group in the statewide results Tuesday night, acknowledged his defeat in a speech to supporters at his watch party in Costa Mesa, though he suggested that he will remain involved in California's political scene moving forward.
"We may have lost the battle, but we are going to win the war," Elder said to cheers from the crowd.
He also tried to soothe his crowd's frustrations at the result. When several attendees began to boo at the mention of Newsom, Elder encouraged them to "be gracious in defeat."
While Elder acknowledged the recall's defeat, at least one candidate said he was still waiting on final tallies to come through.
After the race had been called by several media outlets, businessman and GOP candidate John Cox, who lost in a landslide to Newsom in the governor’s race in 2018, indicated in a tweet that he was not quite ready to concede.
“Still awaiting the results, but one thing I know for sure, this recall election has put the career politicians and insiders on notice,” Cox said. “Each and every person who voted to recall @GavinNewsom has sent a message to Sacramento. We need to fix this state.”
At least one other recall candidate — Republican state Assemblymember Kevin Kiley — had already conceded by 9:30 p.m., according to media reports from his watch party.
— Tom Coulter
Caitlyn Jenner, other well-known candidates fail to gain much support
The recall election not go well for former Olympian and transgender celebrity Caitlyn Jenner. The latest statewide results showed her with around 51,000 votes, or about 1.2% statewide.
After announcing her candidacy in April — and then pausing it in July to shoot "Celebrity Big Brother" in Australia — Jenner was unable to build much momentum in her statewide tour that launched in mid-August.
Most of the other 46 replacement candidates also struggled to garner much support. Businessman and GOP candidate John Cox, who lost his head-to-head race against Newsom in 2018 by a landslide, had about 4.7% of the vote in the latest round of results.
Celebrity candidate Angelyne wasn’t far behind Jenner in the tallies, with about 25,000 votes in her favor.
— Tom Coulter
9:15 p.m. update: Latest results continue to show Newsom with comfortable lead
After several media outlets called the race for Newsom, the latest statewide figures continue to reinforce those projections, with 67.1% of voters opting so far to keep the first-term Democrat in office.
In total, the results reflect more than 8 million votes — a substantial share of the more than 9 million ballots that had been returned by earlier Tuesday.
The results also showed Republican Larry Elder comfortably leading the group of replacement candidates, with the conservative talk show host more than 1 million votes ahead of the second-place candidate, Democrat Kevin Paffrath.
Although the race has been called for Newsom, the ultimate levels of support for the recall likely won't be known until Wednesday or later, with in-person voting tallies expected to include a higher share of recall supporters.
— Tom Coulter
AP has called the election for Newsom
Less than an hour after polls closed, Associated Press declared that California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday had become the second governor in U.S. history to defeat a recall aimed at kicking him out of office early, a contest the Democratic governor crafted as part of national battle for his party’s values in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and lingering threats from “Trumpism.”
8:36 p.m. update: Newsom leading with nearly 68%
A new round of statewide results released around 8:36 p.m. shows Gov. Gavin Newsom leading comfortably in the effort to remove him from office, with about 67.9% of voters opposing the recall.
CNN and NBC News both are projecting that the Democratic governor will remain in office and defeat the recall effort.
8:15 update: Initial results show Newsom with a comfortable lead
An initial round of statewide results released shortly after polls closed at 8 p.m. shows Gov. Gavin Newsom leading comfortably in the effort to remove him from office, with about 72.2% of voters opposing the recall.
The first round of results included about 4.1 million ballots — a substantial share of the more than 9 million votes that had been returned as of Tuesday.
The results also showed Republican Larry Elder comfortably leading the group of replacement candidates, with 37.7% of the vote. Democrat Kevin Paffrath and former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer were the closest trailing candidates, both with between 10% and 15% of the vote.
— Tom Coulter
8 p.m. update: Polls have closed statewide
Polls have now closed across California in the recall election of Gov. Gavin Newsom, with initial results expected to start trickling in over the next hour.
The initial batch of results will reflect the mail-in ballots that have been returned to county election officials in recent weeks. Those results are expected to lean in Newsom’s favor, because a larger share of Democrats have opted for that voting option.
The next rounds of ballots will include early and in-person voting, with a higher share of recall supporters expected to be included in those results.
Nearly 9.7 million ballots, or 44% of those sent to registered voters, had been returned as of Tuesday, according to the latest analysis from Political Data Inc.
The data also showed Democrats made up 51% of the electorate that had cast a ballot, despite making up just 47% of registered voters — likely an encouraging sign for Newsom. Republicans had also outperformed their share of the electorate, accounting for 27% of those who had voted but just 24% of registered voters.
Independent voters, meanwhile, have underperformed in proportion to their share of registered voters, making up 29% of registered voters but just 23% of those who had voted in the recall.
The questions facing voters were: First, do you want to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom? And second, if the governor is recalled, who do you want to replace him? If more than 50% vote yes, the governor would be removed from office, and the person with the most votes would replace him. If 50% or more vote no, the governor would remain in office.
Anxiety may remain high in the coming days, as it may take weeks to get final results because of the state's voting rules.
Unregistered voters could ask for a same-day voter registration form up to Election Day and cast ballots, potentially pushing back final results for days. In addition, all ballots postmarked on Election Day have until Sept. 21 to arrive and be counted at county elections offices.
Given the larger share of Democrats — who outnumber Republicans by about two to one in California — tends to vote by mail, the first round of results will likely bring some good news to Newsom and the anti-recall effort, said Thad Kousser, a voting expert and political science professor with the University of California at San Diego.
“Those (early results) are going to look as strongly anti-recall as the Democratic Party demographics have shown,” Kousser said. “Then, the next set of returns, what we see at 9 and 10 o’clock, those are going to reflect the people who voted in person, and what we saw in 2020 is Republicans were much more likely than Democrats to want to cast a ballot in person, so we’ll see this shift to the right that night.”
“By the end of the night, when we have a large number of these vote centers having reported, if the recall is still trailing, then I think Gavin Newsom will be able to sleep really well,” he added. “Two or three days later, we’ll have a much more firmer sense of where this election is going, but if Gavin is ahead at the end of Election Night, he’ll be in a strong position to win once all the ballots are counted.”
Early voting in the recall election began in mid-August when every registered voter in the state received a ballot from their county elections office. Since then, both Republican and Democratic party organizers have been working to boost turnout throughout California, which hasn’t had a statewide recall election since the ousting of Gov. Gray Davis in 2003.
Over the summer, there was some concern, backed up by polls, that voters were not engaged ahead of the recall election, but Democratic officials have organized an extensive voter outreach campaign, while Newsom has drawn support from prominent national Democrats, including former President Barack Obama.
Since then, several recent polls have shown Newsom as likely to defeat the recall, potentially by double digits.
“Unless we have a big polling error that’s been replicated poll after poll after poll, it looks like it’ll be an election that, after lots of variability in the polls, has come back to what you’d normally expect in a state with 5 million more Democratic voters (than Republicans),” Kousser said. “But we’ll see.”
This story will be updated as results are available.