Special Election to Recall Gov. Newsom Likely to Be Held This Fall: Adviser to Recall Effort

California Gov. Gavin Newsom outlines his 2021–2022 state budget proposal during a news conference in Sacramento on Jan. 8, 2021. Rich Pedroncelli/Pool/AP Photo

An effort to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom will likely succeed in getting a special election by fall this year, according to Randy Economy, senior adviser to the Recall Gavin 2020 effort.

“The process has begun,” Economy told Fox on Thursday. “We’re going to continue to work as hard as we can and to make sure [Newsom] is held accountable and to make sure our rights as an electorate are granted because we’ve done the heavy lifting to make sure that this special election is going to go ahead and move forward.”

Recall Gavin 2020 surpassed the 1.5 million signatures needed to trigger the recall. The deadline is March 17, but, as of Thursday, they had already reached 1,825,000 signatures.

The effort isn’t promoting another candidate for the position. He said that their organization is only aiming at holding Newsom accountable for the lockdown policies along with the damage caused to small businesses.

Some legislators have voiced concerns about ballot manipulation, which could threaten the effort.

“Even though there is over 1.5 million signatures and continuing—in other words—more than what is legally needed, it is pretty clear that they’re going to be scrutinized and thrown out in large number by the Democrat establishment in California," Rep. Darrell Issa, (R-Calif.) said on Wednesday.

“It takes a little bit of a while to go through the process to having the 58 different county registrar voters to verify the signatures and then the last one to tally them all is the secretary of state,” Economy told Fox. “But I feel pretty darn confident that we’re going to get this thing on the ballot this summer.”

Earlier this month, the Republican National Committee contributed $250,000 to the cause. Half of the money was allocated to Rescue California, which it put toward signature gathering, organizers said on Feb. 13.

“We were thrilled to learn that Rescue California had deployed signature gatherers,” said Orrin Heatlie, chairman of the original committee Recall Gavin 2020, said in a press release.

“My volunteers are thrilled that everything that can be done is being done to successfully finish the effort we started nearly a year ago.”

Meanwhile, another $100,000 contribution was made to Rescue California by the political action committee (PAC) of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican. The PAC money arrived via a $25,000 donation on Feb. 4, followed by a larger $75,000 donation on Feb. 12, Rescue California campaign manager Dunsmore told The Epoch Times.

Michelle Thompson contributed to this report.