Late at night on September 14, the results were officially announced for California’s recall election: Governor Gavin Newsom will remain in office until the end of his term. Newsom’s victory came with a lead of over 2.5 million votes against the recall.

Californians all across the state impatiently awaited the results of the September 14 election regarding the controversial decision of whether or not to recall Governor Gavin Newson. Political tensions in California have been high since the beginning of the pandemic due to disagreement over Newsom’s COVID-19 regulations.

California residents were able to make this special election happen because they got a petition signed by the equivalent of 12 percent of the voting turnout for the last gubernatorial election within 160 days. The state legislature then reviewed these petitions and allowed the recall.

The front-runner in this Republican recall election was conservative radio host Larry Elder, whose popularity and support from Californians has continued to grow over the past few months.

However, nobody could predict what would happen in this unique situation. In an interview with political magazine “Newsweek”, former Communications Chief for Newsom Nathan Click stated, “There is no precedent for this election, and no one has a crystal ball.”

Now that Newsom is staying in office, he has announced that he will continue to focus on combating COVID-19, and that he plans to run for a second term after his current term ends next year.