Democrats see a midterm map in Calif. recall success
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Few Democrats were surprised to see Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom swat down a Republican-driven recall campaign in bright-blue California. But they were pleased with how he did it.
By making the race into a referendum on former President Donald Trump and his supporters’ “extreme” resistance to coronavirus precautions, Newsom offered a formula for survival that could translate to dozens of races in next year’s midterm elections, Democrats said. A healthy turnout, spurred by some late anxiety, showed Democrats remain eager to vote against the former president, even when he’s not on the ballot.
California voters rejected the “Republican brand that is centered around insurrection and denying the pandemic,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Republicans said they saw nothing to worry about in the California results. Losing badly in a liberal stronghold isn’t much of a prediction of the party’s performance in battlegrounds like Florida or Georgia, they said. They argue they were saddled with a flawed candidate — talk radio host Larry Elder, the Republican frontrunner who repeatedly cited his support for Trump in a state the former president lost by 30 percentage points and did little to appeal to moderate voters in swingy suburbs.
On Wednesday, Biden embraced Newsom’s victory and his message. “This vote is a resounding win for the approach that he and I share to beating the pandemic: strong vaccine requirements, strong steps to reopen schools safely, and strong plans to distribute real medicines — not fake treatments — to help those who get sick,” Biden said in a statement.
But there will be better test cases coming on how these messages play with voters. In November, voters in Virginia will choose between Democrat Terry McAuliffe, a former governor, and GOP businessman Glenn Youngkin. McAuliffe has been hammering Youngkin as too extreme for a state that has been growing more diverse and more Democratic for years.
California has similar demographic trends at play. In Orange County, long a GOP bastion, racial and ethnic diversity and the growing distaste higher-educated, wealthy voters have shown for Trump have opened the door to Democrats in the county — although the GOP won back two House seats there last year.
