Gavin Newsom Wins California Recall Election, Will Remain Governor

Gavin Newsom will remain the Governor of California, according to projections from NBC News, the Associated Press, and CNN.

The Republican-backed effort failed to garner the 50 percent of votes needed to remove Newsom from his position. Around 1.5 million Californians signed the petition that initiated the recall vote. Of the votes counted so far, over 66 percent of people voted against recalling Newsom with an estimated 61 percent of ballots counted, the New York Times reports.

Newsom is only the second governor in history to triumph over a recall. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was the first.

“No is not the only thing that was expressed tonight,” Newsom said following his victory, per Yahoo News. “I want to focus on what we said yes to as a state. We said yes to science. We said yes to vaccines. We said yes ending this pandemic.”

He continued, “I’m humbled and grateful to the millions and millions of Americans who exercised their fundamental right to vote and expressed themselves so overwhelmingly by rejecting the division, by rejecting the cynicism, by rejecting so much of the negativity that’s defined our politics in this country.”

This post will be updated.