Long Beach voters overwhelmingly chose to reject the recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to data released today by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
Of the 106,717 votes cast in Long Beach, 75,791 opposed the recall while 30,603 supported it. In terms of percentages, 70.0% of Long Beach voters checked no, while just 28.7% voted yes, according to the Registrar’s data.
Long Beach’s voting data seems to be even stronger in opposition to the recall than that the state as a whole. The latest vote tallies from the California Secretary of State’s office show 63.8% of voters statewide voted against the recall, with 36.2% voting for it.
A little less than half of all Long Beach voters, 54,140, voted for a replacement for Newsom. Of the 46 names on the ballot, Republican talk radio host Larry Elder was the clear favorite, winning 23,694 votes. Other big names on the ballot included former Republican mayor of San Diego Kevin Faulconer (4,321 votes), former Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox (1,564 votes) Republican Caitlin Jenner (420 votes) and 1980s LA billboard star Angelyne (517 votes).
Elder earned 2.4 million votes statewide, the most of any replacement candidate, though that would only have mattered had the recall effort succeeded.
The Registrar put voter turnout for the city at 38.92%. According to the California Secretary of State’s 2020 Report of Registration, 52.6% of registered voters in Long Beach are Democrats, while 17.0% are Republican.
Newsom is only the second governor in U.S. history to survive a recall effort. His campaign repeatedly attacked Republican front-runner Elder as being “to the right of” former President Donald Trump.
At his final campaign rally at at Long Beach City College on Sept. 13, which included speeches from President Joe Biden, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, Rep. Alan Lowenthal, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Mayor Robert Garcia and a host of other state officials, Newsom said Elder would roll back vaccine and mask policies meant to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and end abortion access and efforts to deal with climate change.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber said the cost of the recall election to state taxpayers could exceed $300 million, according to ABC News.