SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Hours after California Gov. Gavin Newsom beat back a recall election that could have removed him, his fellow Democrats in the state Legislature said they will seek changes to make it more difficult to challenge a sitting governor.
Newsom said Wednesday that the recall process has been “weaponized.”
Those reforms could include raising the standard to require wrongdoing on the part of the officeholder, increasing the number of signatures needed to force a recall election, and changing the process that could permit someone with a small percentage of votes to replace the state’s top elected official.
Republicans say they will seek to ensure the proposals protect voters’ ability to hold politicians accountable.
Newsom on Tuesday became only the second governor in U.S. history to defeat a recall. The decisive victory ensures that the nation’s most populous state remains a laboratory for progressive policies.
