Governor Newsom fights for his job as California recall nears

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• Hari Sreenivasan:

  Vice President Kamala Harris will head to California on Wednesday to campaign for governor Gavin Newsom ahead of the September 14th recall election there.

  The recall attempt is both a simple and complicated political event.

  NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Jeff Greenfield joined us from Santa Barbara today to sort out the issues and the way the California system works.

  Jeff, how does California find itself in this position?

• Jeff Greenfield:

  Well, under California law, you only need 12 percent of the statewide turnout to sign petitions to trigger a recall. And with paid petition gatherers and with a couple of million dollars in ad money that the Republicans threw into this process, the recall qualified. But it's the way this happens that's so bizarre. If I can use that term, it's a two part ballot. First, should Governor Newsom be recalled, yes or no? If 50 percent say yes, he's out. Then part two is triggered. Which of the 46 candidates on the ballot should be the next governor? And whoever finishes first wins. There's no runoff, which is why conservative talk show host Larry Elder, with about 20 or 22 percent of the vote, could be the next governor, even though Newsom got 49 percent of the vote in the first recall.

• Hari Sreenivasan:

  How did Gavin Newsom get into this bind in the first place?

• Jeff Greenfield:

  First, the reemergence of the pandemic. The economy stalled new restrictions. So that hurt. And then Newsom himself committed quite a blunder by, after imposing a lockdown, showing up maskless at a birthday party and one of the most expensive restaurants in the state. Now, in recent days, Newsom has rebounded. He has tried to turn this recall into a fight between Democrats who dominate the state and the odds of a pro Trump right wing talk show host becoming governor. And as I say, the polls are showing the recall will fail. But you've got a September election and a very odd process. So I think any strong, solid predictions are for the foolhardy.

• Hari Sreenivasan:

  You know, I feel old now, but I lived in California the last time this happened, this isn't the first.

• Jeff Greenfield:

  No. In fact, in 2003, Governor Gray Davis was recalled and removed just one year after being reelected. You'll remember that the new governor was Arnold Schwarzenegger. He won, by the way, in a landslide. But the broader point is this is part of California's commitment to so-called direct democracy. In 1910, a progressive governor, Hiram Johnson, got major changes in how the state politics works. We now have an initiative process where voters can put their own laws or constitutional amendments on the ballot. We have a referendum where voters can undo what the state legislature has done, and we have a recall in which any statewide official can be subject to this process.

• Hari Sreenivasan:

  This was something that was supposed to help progressives, but it's been used by both sides.

• Jeff Greenfield:

  Indeed, in 1964, the voters repealed every local fair housing ordinance. In 1978, they imposed a very strong lid on property taxes. In 1986, voters threw three Supreme Court justices off the bench for their lack of support for the death penalty. And in 2008, voters voted to ban gay marriage, well, the courts knocked that out. And just last year, Lyft, Uber and DoorDash spent $200 million to override a state law that said you have to treat your drivers as employees.

• Hari Sreenivasan:

  What's the consequence here? If Gavin Newsom is recalled, and if Larry Elder is elected?

• Jeff Greenfield:

  For one thing, Elder is committed to repealing any kind of mandate in terms of vaccinations and masks, he has called global warming essentially mythological. But there's another very awkward point. Dianne Feinstein, the United States senator from California, is 88 years old. And in recent years, her performance has concerned Democrats who have been urging her to resign. If Larry Elder becomes governor and if Dianne Feinstein has to leave the Senate, he has said he will appoint a Republican in her place to serve the remainder of her term, which would make the U.S. Senate no longer controlled by Democrats. So there's potentially a lot at stake here.

• Hari Sreenivasan:

  Jeff Greenfield joining us from California.

• Jeff Greenfield:

  Thanks so much. Thank you.