Group Launches New Recall Effort to Remove California Governor

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (R) surveys damage in Pacific Palisades with CalFire's Nick Schuler during the Palisades Fire, in Pacific Palisades, Calif., on Jan. 8, 2025 Jeff Gritchen/The Orange County Register via AP

A new coalition of Californians, named Saving California, publicly announced a new effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom on Jan. 23.

The group launched the effort at a retail store in Los Angeles on Thursday, with several speakers scheduled as they planned to collect at least 50 signatures to begin the recall.

“We can’t afford two more years of Gavin Newsom ... we just can’t,” Saving California Chairman Randy Economy told The Epoch Times on Wednesday. “High priority right now is not California.”

Economy, who was involved in a previously unsuccessful September 2021 recall campaign despite gathering enough signatures to hold an election, said he felt the governor was not performing for California residents.

“He’s not a hands-on governor,” Economy said.

Recall supporters who were expected to speak on Thursday and sign the intent letter included Economy; Bishop Juan Carlos, founder of Churches in Action; Robert Kennedy III; Fraser Ross, owner of Kitson; and Chef Andrew Gruel, an Orange County-based chef and television personality who helped feed and provide services to fire evacuees this month.

In the letter of intent, organizers say Newsom’s time in office has been marked by a “series of catastrophic failures“ that ”directly impact” their daily lives.

“His gross mismanagement during the Los Angeles County fires, with inadequate resources and delayed responses, left communities devastated,” the group wrote in the letter.

Saving California also mentioned soaring crime rates, a rise in the cost of living, the increase in homelessness, the drug epidemic, and border issues as reasons for the recall.

“The recall will happen this time as the incompetence of Gavin Newsom, along with other political leaders, cannot be tolerated anymore,” Ross said in a statement on Wednesday. “The destruction of California is at an all-time high; I’ve had to deal with shoplifting at all my Kitson stores and take matters into my own hands, and truly I just have had enough now.”

Newsom has served half of his second term. Saving California plans to serve the governor with the letter of intent this week.

Newsom’s political team responded to the recall campaign announcement on Wednesday afternoon, pointing out multiple failed attempts in the past.

Randy Economy, senior adviser and official spokesman to RecallGavin2020, during an interview with The Epoch Times. Economy is serving as the chairman of a new effort to recall California's governor. Screenshot/The Epoch Times

“Governor Newsom is focused on the fires and marshaling resources for the extensive recovery—not politics,” political spokesman Nathan Click told The Epoch Times in an email.

Click serves as the governor’s political adviser and led communications efforts for Newsom during the last recall effort in 2021.

“The same group of far right Trump acolytes have launched [seven] different recall attempts against the governor since he’s taken office, each of which have failed spectacularly,” Click said. “Even Republican Party leaders have criticized these repeated attempts as a brazen campaign finance ‘grift,’ and the recall organizers have been sued by their own donors for pocketing funds raised previously.”

The progressive California governor has been under scrutiny by the public after several major fires broke out in Los Angeles County this month.

During the Palisades fire, crews reported finding dry fire hydrants and an empty reservoir on Jan. 7 as thousands of homes in Pacific Palisades began to burn to the ground.

“The water system got low on us—on firefighters—so when they were out fighting the fire, there were times when they had very low water pressure,” San Digiovanna, chief of the Verdugo Fire Academy in Glendale, told The Epoch Times during the fires.

Newsom announced on Jan. 10 that he was calling for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure to local fire hydrants and the reported lack of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir.

“We need answers to ensure this does not happen again and we have every resource available to fight these catastrophic fires,” Newsom wrote in an X post.

If the group is successful, Newsom would become the second California governor to be officially removed from office by voters.

In 2003, Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, was recalled by voters with 55 percent of the vote following a public outcry over how he handled the state’s electricity industry. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, was elected as his replacement.

Former California Gov. Gray Davis (L) and chairman and CEO of Showtime, Matt Blank, attend the after party for the film premiere of "Spinning Boris" at the Paramount Theatre, in Los Angeles on March 3, 2004. Davis was recalled in 2003. Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

Since 1913, there have been 181 recall attempts of state elected officials in California, according to the secretary of state’s office. Eleven recall efforts collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, resulting in the recall of six officials.

Saving California’s recall campaign is in the beginning stages and would still require collecting signatures and many other steps before appearing on a ballot, but organizers believe they will be successful.

“This is a democracy we live in,” Economy said. “He works for the people, and I think he forgets that, and he does what he does.

“This time is different.”