WASHINGTON – As polls tighten and California political leaders sound the alarm, Democrats in Washington are swooping in to help Gov. Gavin Newsom, giving his anti-recall campaign a big push.
National Democratic stars like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker have all lent their voices to Newsom’s anti-recall campaign. President Joe Biden released a statement last week urging Californians to vote no on the recall, and Newsom says he anticipates both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will visit the state to campaign in the coming weeks.
Less than a month after he told the editorial boards of McClatchy’s California papers he didn’t think the party’s national leaders fully appreciated what would happen if he lost, Newsom says he’s now satisfied with the support he’s getting from the party nationally.
“The Democratic Party truly is united in opposition because we recognize what’s at stake,” Newsom said Friday at a phone-banking event in San Francisco.
During the July editorial board interview, he said that if he loses the recall, that could give Republicans an advantage in the 2022 midterms, and could prevent the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress from enacting a wide range of liberal policies on immigration, climate, health care and COVID-19.
“If this was a successful recall, I think it would have profound consequences nationwide, and go to not just politics, but to policy and policymaking,” Newsom said during the interview with the editorial boards of The Sacramento Bee, The Fresno Bee, The Modesto Bee and The Tribune of San Luis Obispo.
Rob Stutzman, a Republican consultant who worked on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s successful campaign during California’s last gubernatorial recall election in 2003, said the idea that Newsom needs help from national Democrats is somewhat ironic.
“If I was running the (Democratic National Committee) and I heard Newsom say that, what I’d mumble under my breath is ‘Why do we have to come in and save a blue governor in a blue state?’” Stutzman said.
Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly two-to-one in California and support for the recall largely breaks along party lines. But polling shows the recall’s supporters are far more enthusiastic than its opponents and more likely to vote, making the race uncomfortably close for Newsom.
Democratic National Committee making calls
At the Democratic National Committee, Chairman Jaime Harrison is pushing Newsom’s “Stop Republican Recall” campaign. The DNC is using its organizing program to make calls urging voters to support the governor.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s campaign office says she plans two “days of action” aimed at getting out the vote in support of Newsom, a fellow San Franciscan.
One is the Women’s Equality Day initiative August 26, in partnership with the California Democratic Party Women’s Caucus. The other is a Sept. 9 plan to kick off a final get out the vote weekend.
Pelosi will be engaging supporters to participate in phone banking, text banking, and personal conversations with voters.
She has personally been urging people to vote. At a news conference in San Francisco last week, she detailed why she wants Newsom to remain in office.
She called Newsom a “a great governor of California,” and said “I brag about him all over the country and in the Congress.”
But, Pelosi warned, “The other side is enthusiastic... We have to make sure that everybody knows that we have to get out, we have to vote and we have to reject the recall.”
The Democratic Governors Association is also helping Newsom’s anti-recall effort with $1.5 million in donations. It gave it $500,000 in May and another $1 million August 5.
“That’s the most efficient way to help the campaign,” said David Turner, communications director for the association.
Turner expects further efforts. The Democratic Governors Association gets written updates on the campaign regularly and has done Zoom briefings with recall officials.
What’s at stake for President Biden?
Newsom has stressed that as governor he’s helped Biden establish a new car emissions standard that builds on the 2019 deal he struck with five big car companies to pollution. Newsom stressed that California under his leadership serves as a model as national Democrats try to allocate more money for preschool, child care and community college, all areas where he’s approved big spending increases in the Golden State.
That alliance with the nation’s most populous state could evaporate if he’s thrown out of office and replaced by one of his Republican challengers, Newsom warned.
“If they get this state, and they can weaponize it from a national narrative, the impacts are profound for Chuck Schumer, for Speaker Pelosi, for President Biden,” Newsom said. “Profound.”
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