California’s recall election was spurred by two events that happened on a single day last November: Gov. Gavin Newsom dined with 11 others at an expensive Napa restaurant, and a judge granted recall organizers four more months to qualify for the ballot.
Photos of the maskless dinner showed the Democratic governor going against what he had been urging for months to combat the coronavirus: don’t gather in groups, keep your distance, wear a mask. That it was happening at the French Laundry — where the cheapest meal is $350 — fueled the idea Newsom was out of touch. The dinner turned up the heat on the fledgling recall, and the extra time allowed it to reach full boil.
Because so many people are running, the winner would likely become the next governor of the nation’s most populous state with 25% or less of the votes. That’s a far cry from the landslide that swept Newsom into office in 2018. California was facing an uptick in infections and hospitalizations, and Newsom’s administration was urging people not to gather with more than three households. While Napa County, where the French Laundry is located, allowed outdoor dining and limited indoor seating,News of the Nov. 6 dinner broke a week later, on a Friday when Newsom had no public appearances.
Ace Smith, Newsom’s longtime political consultant, disputes the dinner’s importance in the recall’s march to the ballot. He views the presidential election, also that November, as an important marker, saying Donald Trump’s loss created fresh anger for the recall campaign to seize on. Six million people in California voted for Trump.
Newsom’s team never appealed the judge’s decision, a move widely seen as a tactical mistake. Then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla had said recall organizers were not showing signs of a serious campaign. Newsom launched his “Stop the Republican Recall” campaign in March, weeks before the signature gathering ended, painting the effort as one driven by Trump-supporting extremists. He’s made the state’s response to the pandemic and the economic fallout a central theme of his campaign.
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