The Parallel Lives

Four times have governors of the fifty states suffered the indignity of a recall election.

     On October 28, 1921, the governor of North Dakota, Lynn Frazier, lost the recall election to Ragnvald Nestos: 111,434 for Nestos vs. 107,332 for Frazier. This was a first in U.S. history. 

     What had Frazier done so bad to suffer a recall and be driven from office? It was due to poor economic conditions among the state’s farmers, scant crops, a drought, plus a budget crisis. 

     A second occurred on October 7, 2003, when Gray Davis, governor of California, lost the recall election to Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

     Two questions appeared on that recall ballot. The first: Shall Gray Davis be recalled from the office of Governor? The results were 4,976,274 “Yes” votes vs. 4,007,783 “No” votes. 

     The second question asked voters to vote for either Schwarzenegger, Cruz Bustamente, or Tom McClintock. Schwarzenegger gathered 4,206,284, 48.58% of the total, enough to win.

     What had Gray Davis done so bad? There was an electricity crisis causing blackouts and excessive electric bills, a massive budget deficit, and a vehicle license fee hike. Voters were not pleased. Davis admitted at that time that “he had lost touch with the voters.” 

     A third time occurred on June 5, 2012, when governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, won the recall election, 1,335,585 votes to Tom Barrett’s 1,164,480 votes. Walker retained his office.

     What had Walker done so bad? He had signed Assembly Bill 11, the “Budget Repair Bill” in February 2011, which drove public sector employee unions out of collective bargaining, in order to work toward a more balanced state budget. 

     A fourth time occurred on September 14, 2021, when voters answered the first question: Shall Gavin Newsom be recalled from the office of Governor? The “Yes” votes tallied 4,894,474, but the “No” votes tallied 7,944,092, or 61.88%, enough for Newsom to retain his office as governor.

     What had Newsom done? In part it was due to mandatory restrictions that Newsom imposed during the Covid pandemic, such as closing the schools. Newsom remains governor of the state.

     Four governors. Two were driven out of their office: Lynn Frazier in 1921, and Gray Davis in 2003. Two retained their office: Scott Walker and Gavin Newsom.

     Of the fifty states, California has the odd distinction for the most recall attempts for their governors, a total of 55, even though only two went to election, and only one succeeded.

     Even the more popular governors of the state of California knew about the circulation of recall petitions, even though almost all the attempts failed to get onto a ballot. 

     Two times for Edmund G. (Pat) Brown. Three times for Ronald Reagan. Five times for Jerry Brown. Eleven times for George Deukmejian, a record number. Five times for Pete Wilson. 

     Three times for Gray Davis, and one succeeded. Seven times for Arnold Schwartzenegger. Five times for Jerry Brown, his second term as governor, and seven times for Gavin Newsom.

     Why so many in California? The threshold in the state is for only 12% of the last election’s voters for the office to sign the petition, and that signers must originate from five counties. Many states have a threshold of at least 25%. 

     Of the seventeen states west of the Mississippi River, seven do not have any governor recall provisions: Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. 

     Certain voters in Colorado launched a petition to recall Jared Polis on February 24, 2022. Officials told the petitioners they had sixty days, until April 25, 2022, to gather and submit 631,266 signatures, near the state’s 25% threshold. The signatures collected were not submitted.

     The lesson here is that it is most difficult to remove a governor once voters place him or her into that office.