Across the state of California, a petition to recall Governor Gavin Newsom has spread. Those in charge of the recall have stated that they are unhappy with how the governor has dealt with the Coronavirus pandemic.

“[Newsom] mismanaged this from day one. It’s his draconian policies. He’s locked 40 million of us under house arrest for nearly a year, and it was his way or the highway,” said Randy Economy, the senior advisor for the Recall Gavin Newsom campaign.

The recall campaign had until March 17 to gather at least 1.5 million signatures to support their recall. If they reach the required amount of signatures, then a recall election will take place, but successful recall campaigns are rare. In fact, there have only been a total of four successful recalls of governors in the history of the United States. The campaign claims to have turned in over two million signatures, which would be more than enough to trigger a recall election. Now, it is the job of the California’s Secretary of State office to determine if all the signatures are valid. April 29 is the deadline to verify the authenticity of the signatures as well as to report the results to California’s Secretary of State.

Governor Newsom has responded to the petition by fighting the recall, and his efforts have been backed by both politicians Elizabeth Warren as well as Bernie Sanders. Newsom does not want to lose his position as governor of California. So, he has been attacking the recall by claiming that it is an attack on him from far-right extremist groups.

“I’m fighting for the values of this state, and there’s a lot at stake. Because in these elections, who knows what could happen?” said Newsom.

Even if the campaign is successful in forcing a recall election, it could be as late as fall until the election actually takes place as there are still many more required steps for the process to be complete.