Democrats' Double Talk on Recalls

Though Democrats easily prevailed in the recall election involving Governor Gavin Newsom in California, they campaigned hard by bringing in all the big guns, including President Joe Biden, former president Barack Obama, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, among others. One element of the Democrats’ strategy was the seemingly coordinated message that the recall was an illegitimate and partisan power grab. Yet the recall procedure is established in California law. Recalls are rare, but over the last decade, they have not been unprecedented — and some recall efforts came from Democrats. Democrats’ claims that the recall was illegitimate don’t square with the facts.