By 

September 2, 2021

-Liberty Daily

 

Embattled California Governor Gavin Newsom is making his final pitch to voters with his recall election in full-swing through mail-in voting. In-person voting will happen on September 14.

The Democrat is betting high on fear of Covid-19. His last resort to stave off Republicans, including frontrunner Larry Elder, is to claim that if a Republican replaces him, there will be widespread deaths across the state because the Republicans will repeal his various Covid mandates.

According to Politico:

“There is no more consequential decision to the health and safety of the people of the state of California than voting no on this Republican-backed recall,” Newsom said Tuesday at a vaccine event in Oakland two weeks before the recall election. He said that “the starkest contrast” exists between him and the Republican candidates who would rather go the way of Texas and Florida, states with more lax protocols and subsequently lower vaccine rates and higher virus cases.

The governor was blasted in November for attending a high-end French Laundry dinner with lobbyist friends despite discouraging residents from attending social gatherings, a cringe-worthy decision widely viewed as a catalyst for the signature drive that qualified the recall. Things only got worse in subsequent months as California suffered its highest Covid-19 death rates and hospitals were overrun.

In the final stretch before the Sept. 14 election, the governor has leaned into his pandemic efforts again. In the past month, Newsom mandated a universal school mask policy ahead of the CDC and issued some of the strictest vaccine requirements for teachers and health care workers in the country. Meanwhile, all of the top Republican recall candidates are vowing to undo those mandates if elected.

As Delta variant anxieties increase, and the election coincides with precarious school reopenings, the Democratic governor sees opportunity in drawing a stark and ominous line between himself and his challengers: If he is ousted, the virus will get worse, not better.

Nothing reeks of desperation more than a politicians claiming they must win or voters will die. Normally such a play would spark opposition, but this is California. He may actually be able to scare up some extra votes with his unhinged threats.