The recall ballot will have two parts, with voters first deciding whether or not to remove Davis from office and then choosing from a list of candidates to replace him. Those voting to keep Davis would still be able to cast a vote for a potential successor. Individuals wishing to enter the race have until August 9 to declare their candidacy. To qualify for the ballot, they will need 65 signatures of registered voters and a $3,500 fee, or 10,000 signatures with no fee.
It will be the first gubernatorial recall election in the United States in 82 years. The last such vote was in 1921, when North Dakota governor Lynn Frazier became the only head of a U.S. state in the country’s history to be removed from office.
The only declared candidate so far from the two major capitalist parties is U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from Vista, California, who largely bankrolled the recall effort. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and businessman William Simon, both Republicans, are also considering running.
Republican Richard Riordan, the former mayor of Los Angeles is considering getting in the race as well.
The state’s Democratic officeholders have closed ranks behind Davis and say they will not run. The Democratic Party establishment is now trying to cast the contest as one between a “progressive governor” and a conservative Republican opponent.
Peter Camejo, the Green Party’s candidate for California governor last November, announced his intention to run. Republican party politicians started the campaign to recall Davis, which gained momentum from Issa, who pumped $1.7 million of his car alarm fortune into the drive starting in May.
Davis presided over California’s “energy crisis” of 2000-2001, and is using the current state budge deficit of more than $38 billion as an excuse to triple the state’s automobile tax. This is one of a number of austerity measures that fall heaviest on working people and that has contributed to a drop in Davis’s popularity in public opinion polls.
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