The effort to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom has failed, but it was worth it just to make him and the rest of the Democratic Party squirm.
Liberals have comfortably controlled the Golden State for years and will probably continue to do so for a long, long time. But the push to recall Newsom was a symptom of the discontent many Californians had been feeling but had not expressed. The pandemic, and Newsom’s handling of it, changed that for a lot of people.
Ultimately, there was not enough political momentum to oust Newsom. Perhaps, as some pollsters have claimed, the majority of the state still prefers strict coronavirus restrictions, such as mask and vaccine mandates. But the fact that California Republicans were able to trigger the recall election in the first place should be a warning sign for Democrats who think Newsom’s victory justifies their pandemic policies. Even in an overwhelmingly liberal state such as California, there were enough people fed up with Democratic governing that Newsom had to call in backup and ask President Joe Biden to stump for him. Imagine what this kind of backlash will look like in a state that isn’t solidly blue.
The 2022 midterm elections are right around the corner, and the pandemic will inevitably be a focal point. And in purple states, where much of the citizenry is trying to move on from the pandemic, Democrats are going to have a hard time justifying continued restrictions amid the economic and social fallout they’ve caused. There’s a reason several swing-state Democratic officials, such as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, have been very cautious to reintroduce restrictions even as the delta variant spreads. They know there will be political consequences, and unlike Newsom, they don’t have a political cushion on which to fall.
In short, the recall effort wasn’t a total flop. It was a sign of what’s to come. And in other states, Democrats won’t have it so easy.
