Organizers claim to have collected half of the needed 1.5 million signatures to place a recall of Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom on the California ballot, but U of R Political Scientist and Professor Renee Van Vechten says though a recall is theoretically possible, it is unlikely to succeed.
“Republicans are fewer than one out of four people in the state — a historic low. More Republicans have begun to identify as no party preference voters, but they do lean Republican. The fact is that they could get enough signatures to prompt a recall, but Democrats would go in droves and vote to keep him in office,” she said. “At the end of the day, I think Democrats would close ranks behind him.”
Van Vechten is available to comment on this and other topics of California politics and voting.
Biography:
Renée Bukovchik Van Vechten, Ph.D., specializes in California and legislative politics and teaches courses in U.S. national institutions and public policy. She infuses her courses—such as Cal Politics, U.S. Congress, and the U.S. Presidency—with active learning elements. She the author of California Politics: A Primer, now in its 5th edition (Sage/CQ Press). Current projects involve developing a Food Politics textbook and an edited volume on internships in the discipline. Dr. Van Vechten is the recipient of multiple grants and awards for teaching, and is deeply engaged in the scholarship of teaching and learning. She organizes teaching and learning events for WPSA and co-convened the first “Teaching & Learning Conference within a Conference” at APSA in 2018. She also serves on the Rogers Smith Presidential Task Force (2018-2020), and is a Council member of APSA, the American Political Science Association (for which she chairs the Teaching & Learning Policy Committee and sits on the Executive Board, 2017-19). She is an executive board member of Pi Sigma Alpha honor society, and frequently contributes to local and national political reports. Click the tabs below for more information.
