Amid Recall Effort, Out-of-State Senator Hits California Airwaves with Conspiratorial Claim About 'Trump Republicans'
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts knows what the Sept. 14 California recall election of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is all about.
COVID-19 lockdowns that shuttered churches and schools no matter what people of faith and parents had to say?
Nope.
According to an ad released by Warren, it’s those pesky Trump Republicans swarming across California like the proverbial plague of locusts in search of an election to devastate.
“We’ve seen Trump Republicans across the country attacking election results and the right to vote,” Warren said in the ad, according to Fox News. “Abusing the recall process and costing the taxpayers millions.”
Warren has a plan for that.
“Vote ‘no’ to protect California and our democracy,” Warren instructs those listening. “Stop the Republican recall.”
Writing about the ad on Reason, Scott Shackford sighed that there was “nothing new or unexpected about the content of the advertisement. She (Warren) accuses Republicans of ‘abusing’ the recall process (they did not—they collected more than the required number of citizen signatures to force the vote under state law) and complains about the cost of the recall vote for Californian taxpayers (who, again, signed the petition).”
Shackford also said Warren’s advice might not even be a good fit for California Democrats — and here’s why.
Voters are faced with two questions.
The first is whether they want to recall Newsom. The second question calls for a voter to pick from among the 46 candidates to replace him.
But Warren left out the second question, which irritated Shackford.
“This advertisement starring Warren absolutely fails to mention that second vote at all, creating a misleading and potentially self-destructive impression that only the first question matters if you support Newsom. The potential result is that if Democratic voters don’t grasp the importance of also answering the second question, they won’t get a say in who replaces Newsom if he gets voted out,” he wrote.
In short, Democrats who follow Warren’s advice could leave themselves without a say in picking California’s next governor.
Shackford said Warren’s ad is typical of what’s wrong with Democrats in the state.
He said there is “a significant disconnect between what state Democratic Party operatives think voters want and what voters actually want. The sin of omission in the Warren ad, which may keep voters from realizing they can both support Newsom and still vote for an alternative, feels like yet another example of this disconnect.”
Although enrolled Democrats outnumber Republicans in the state, dissatisfaction with Newsom has simmered since the days when California had some of the nation’s most stringent lockdown laws.
Last week, a poll from Survey USA showed that 51 percent of those polled said they want Newsom out. That’s a snapshot with a margin of error of plus- or minus-5 percentage points.
Voting in the election will begin Aug. 16, according to Politico.
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