California Recall Threat Puts Pressure On Newsom Speech

Speaker 1: 00:00 When governor Gavin Newsome delivers his state of the state speech from Dodger stadium in Los Angeles. Tonight, the campaign to recall him from office will be the backdrop and KQBD politics editor. Scott Schaffer says whether or not the recall, ultimately succeeds the California Republican party is hoping to benefit from it Speaker 2: 00:20 This past weekend in Vacaville, a half hour Southwest of Sacramento, a couple of dozen volunteers gathered with recall Newsome signs, waving American flags as passing cars honked in support, Speaker 1: 00:34 And then put your full address is how you're registered it. Speaker 2: 00:37 Michelle guara is chair of the Solano County Republican party. She's here at corralling people to sign, recall petitions and making sure their voter information is up to date. Speaker 1: 00:46 How long has it been since you've updated your registration, your signature, have you updated your information? Do you need to change your information Speaker 2: 00:54 Among those who stopped to sign a petition was David versa, a 32 year old Republican who says for him the recall his personal, Speaker 1: 01:02 My friend group family group. Um, we're having a hard time here and it just feels like Newsome. Isn't helping us out at all. It feels like he doesn't care. You know, when we see them eat in restaurants and doing stuff like that, it, it really, uh, shows where his loyalties lie, you know, Speaker 2: 01:16 A week from tomorrow is the deadline for signatures. And recall organizers say they've got more than enough. Jessica Milan Patterson is chair of the California Republican party. She says, while the recall, didn't start out as a purely Republican effort. They're all in. Now we saw that there is a movement there and we joined [inaudible] because it's the right thing to do for California. And for the Republican party, Patterson says the recall is a chance to showcase the GOP as an alternative to democratic policies voters. Don't like from the pandemic to the death penalty, it's also a way to engage volunteers in what was supposed to be a relatively quiet year. As far as politics goes, we've done about a million phone calls chasing the signature petitions from individuals who should have received it and getting those back in. So keeping the volunteers engaged in a quote unquote off here is phenomenal. The Republican national committee has kicked in $250,000 toward the recall effort. And it looks like money. Won't be a problem if the recall qualifies for the ballot Randy economy. Yep. That's his real name is the official spokesman for the recall campaign. He's a former Democrat turned independent, turned Republican, and he insists the recall is nonpartisan. Speaker 3: 02:36 I know that the Republican party structure has, um, decided to get involved in the campaign. Of course we couldn't stop them from doing that. Everybody has the right to get involved, but our campaign is not based upon, um, you know, the wishes of the Republican party or its Republican party operatives. At the same Speaker 2: 02:53 Time economy acknowledges Speaker 3: 02:55 Some of our greatest volunteers are chairmans of the individual Republican parties up into that, a County or Eldorado County or Alameda County Speaker 2: 03:03 Political operative and Dunsmore is a consultant for the recall campaign. She says, if nothing else, the effort to get rid of Newsome puts Democrats on the defensive while giving the GOP an opportunity to reach voters who might not otherwise be receptive to their message. Speaker 3: 03:19 They're certainly using it as an organizing tool. Um, it's certainly catching fire. There's certainly a benefit to it and you can see it because all the County parties are starting to surf that wave Speaker 2: 03:29 Republican consultant, Rob Stutzman, who worked on the 2003 recall of governor gray Davis says this gives Republicans a chance to talk about how they would govern the state differently from Democrat. Speaker 3: 03:41 And as long as you know, Trump related candidates, they out of it, they're not talking about Donald Trump. So it's a very good opportunity for the party to grow beyond its current base. Speaker 2: 03:53 Meanwhile, governor Newsome is hoping that by the time the recall election happens later this year, the pandemic will be in the rear view mirror. And that voters will be in no mood to replace him with a Republican Speaker 4: 04:07 KPBS will broadcast Newsome, state of the state address live tonight at six.