Organizers behind the effort to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom say they have acquired more than the nearly 1.5 million signatures required to put the vote on the ballot. 

California’s only governor to ever be recalled, former Governor Gray Davis, tells Inside the Issues every governor faces the possibility of a recall. 

“I actually think this privilege, which was given to the voters back in 1911, needs to be reexamined in light of the internet, email, instant communications,” he said.

While organizers and supporters of the movement wait for the signatures to be verified, Davis’ advice to Newsom is to “focus on getting shots in people’s arms,” he said.

As of this writing, reporting shows more than 21 million Californians have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

When looking back on the energy crisis of California that ultimately led to the removal of Davis in office, the former governor said his was a unique situation in that the state was the only one dealing with such a crisis.

“Now all 50 states are dealing with the pandemic,” he said. “We’ve vaccinated more people than any other Americans, we have the lower death rate, lower positivity rate. All the indexes of performance are positive in California, particularly when you look at them from a per capita basis. So, that’s exactly what he should focus on, almost to the exclusion of everything else, so people can go back to work, kids can go back to school, we can get relief to people that lost their jobs and can’t pay their rent. All that stuff can happen if we get people vaccinated.”

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