An 11-month old petition to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom on Change.org was consistently gaining signatures on Monday, with several voicing displeasure at the governor’s handling of California’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. With a goal of 500,000 signatures, the petition had more than 317,000 signatures as of 3 p.m.
First started in 2019 by Joshua Lindsay, the petition’s written grievances against Gov. Newsom center on the way he has handled the issue of illegal immigration. Deeming the governor’s illegal immigration policy too lax, the petition takes issue with him declaring California a sanctuary state, pulling troops from the southern border during last year’s migrant caravan, and giving illegal immigrants taxpayer funded goods and services. It also accuses him of acting in favor of illegal immigration to change voting demographics in favor of the Democratic Party.
Though some of the signatures that were added Monday were in line with the petition’s initial grievances and others were more general insults directed toward the governor, many were criticisms of his continued order that vast swaths of California’s economy remain shut down amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I need to work (responsibly) and can’t. I won’t make it to August,” one read.
Another simply read, “Open the economy.”
