Some California Democrats Voting ‘No’ On The Recall — If They Have To

Jennifer Sanchez and her husband are juggling a newborn baby and a kindergartner who just started school. So, the days have been pretty busy in their Sherman Oaks neighborhood home in Los Angeles.

“It’s go, go, go in the morning,” Sanchez said. “Pumping so [the] baby has food, getting the kid ready for school, clothes, pack lunch, snacks — all that good stuff.” The pandemic hasn’t made this routine any easier, too.

Sanchez, a registered Democrat, says she’s normally a politics junkie. But she hasn’t been that plugged-in to the recall campaign against Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

“It just became background noise. With everything going on, I wasn’t going to pay too much attention to it,” she said. 

Surveys have indicated that Republican voters are more engaged on the recall than Democratic voters. Polling experts say this might mean Republicans are more likely to vote than Democrats, which could make the race much closer than originally expected. 

But will it really?

Elisa Massenzio is another Democrat who hasn’t been paying much attention to the upcoming recall — but for a different reason.

“I almost don’t want to dignify it with my attention because it feels undemocratic and unnecessary,” said Massenzio, a graphic designer from Oakland. “There is an election scheduled for next year. This just feels like a giant waste of money and everyone's time when there are bigger fish to fry.”

Sho Kawano from Sacramento was undecided about voting in the recall. He says he’s become disillusioned with political leadership in the state. That includes Newsom.

“I do feel that the recall is a waste of money, but at the same time [Newsom] kind of brought it on himself. And maybe this is just like a result of bad governance by the Democrats for who knows how many years,” he said. 

All these voters are less engaged than they normally are for elections. But they still did — or plan to — vote no on the recall.

For Kawano, who describes himself as progressive, it was a tough choice. He wants Democratic leaders to take more aggressive action on issues like housing costs and homelessness. 

But when he saw the field of replacement candidates — with conservative radio host Larry Elder at the top — he made up his mind: He’d vote to keep Newsom in office.

“I went from being apathetic to realizing OK, yeah, I still need to vote in this, obviously,’” he said. 

Kawano left the Democratic party recently and says he hopes the recall “scares the people in charge a little bit to look themselves in the mirror about what they've done and what they haven't done.”

If Newsom is recalled, California would likely end up with a Republican governor. That could have huge political ramifications, both in the Golden State and nationally So, why do so many Democrats seem so ambivalent about this?

“It’s a vote for the status quo, and that’s never as exciting,” said Sacramento State political science professor Kim Nalder.

On the other hand, the idea of removing Newsom is tantalizing for critics. Nalder says that’s why they’ve been talking about the recall for months.

“What’s interesting is what’s not changing” in the polls, which have consistently shown Republicans and a segment of No Party Preference voters have high enthusiasm for the recall, Nalder said. “I think it shows it’s being driven by polarization and partisanship, and little else.”

As for whether a lack of engagement from Democratic voters will translate to a lack of votes, political strategist Garry South isn’t worried.

“Democrats always engage late. … There are demographic reasons for that, there are sociological reasons for that,” he said. 

South worked for former Gov. Gray Davis, who was successfully recalled in 2003. “Democrats never engage as early in a campaign as Republicans do. That’s just a fact,” he said.

It’s true for voters like Jennifer Sanchez, who with a young family to take care of hasn’t cast her ballot yet.

“I’m old-school and love doing everything in person,” she said. But this year, with the pandemic surging and a newborn baby in tow, “we’re just going to mail in our ballots.”

Every active voter was sent a ballot for this election. With the September 14 recall just around the corner, the days for Sanchez and other dispassionate voters to mail it back are running out.