In an attempt to turn California into a red state, Republicans have issued a recall against Governor Gavin Newsom. As of Sept. 14, 2021, Californians at or over the age of 18-years-old have the opportunity to vote against the recall for Gavin Newsom. “Opponents of Newsom gathered the nearly 1.5 million signatures required to trigger the recall election. That threshold equaled 12% of the votes cast in the previous gubernatorial election in 2018.”(Breuninger) If Republicans succeed in their attempt to remove Newsom from office, he would become the third state governor in the U.S. to be revoked from his position due to a recall. 

As Covid-19 conditions began to arise, Newsom has faced some serious backlash on the decisions he has made in office over the course of the pandemic. The news of a recall began to pose a bigger threat as Republicans focused on actions Newsom made that they could use to oppose his role as a governor.

The situation at hand is significant in determining where our state as a whole is heading towards. The recall against Newsom could potentially change California’s system and our direction as a growing and functioning state. Even people under the age of 18-year old should make it a point to get informed about the situation because this recall vote could greatly impact California residents, including Silver Creek students as well as their families. 

If more than 50% of votes were in favor of the recall against Newsom, he would get pulled out of office and his position would be handed off to the candidate with the most votes to replace him. What this means is that California could potentially have a Republican governor in office, which would cause our trajectory as a state to go in the complete opposite direction. This major decision could possibly impact millions of California residents in a detrimental way. 

Out of the top four candidates that could potentially replace Newsom if he was recalled, one of them belongs to the Democratic Party, the other three are Republicans. This significantly lowers California’s chance of receiving a Democrat as governor if Newsom were to get recalled. California being a “deep blue state” as some say, could significantly change if Californians elect a Republican governor. Crucial aspects like requiring masks, vaccinations and other necessary matters could become of less importance which could cause a detrimental effect on our coronavirus progress.

A few Californians long for a return to public places without the use of face coverings, the likelihood of this occasion could grow more improbable if a Republican Governor was elected due to their no mask mandate policy. As of now the most major concerns in California are keeping the Covid case rates low. As most know, California has the biggest population in the U.S. with a staggering 40 million people, not to mention the coronavirus cases are third lowest in the country. That being said, if a Republican governor were to be elected, the consensus is that they would abolish the mask mandate, which could thus put California significantly behind in trying to rebuild what our economy previously was. 

Overall, this recall vote is extremely crucial in the trajectory of California as a striving state. It is in Californians best interest to do everything they can to inform adults about the necessity to vote for the candidate they think would fit best in order to keep California thriving.

An SCHS student reading about the Gavin Newsom recall.