Our new book is titled Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics. Among other things, it discusses state elections. The biggest off-off-year election is the CA recall.
Only 41 candidates appeared on the list of “replacement candidates” who faced a Friday deadline to complete paperwork to officially throw their hats in the ring to take on Gov. Gavin Newsom in September. That’s a fraction of the 135 contenders who leaped into the recall that saw Arnold Schwarzenegger beat former Gov. Gray Davis nearly 20 years ago, and it’s a smaller total than many political observers were anticipating for 2021. It amounts to only about half the number of hopefuls who filed statements of intention to run, shrinkage that likely reflects both Newsom’s stabilized political standing and a requirement that candidates share their tax returns.
THE LIST: The list of Newsom replacement hopefuls includes 21 Republicans and is notably bereft of prominent Democratic politicians after Newsom’s campaign — and his solid poll numbers — successfully deterred big names in his party from giving their voters another Democratic option, although Newsom himself won’t be designated a Democrat on ballots. Of the eight Democratic candidates, the one with the largest following is Kevin Paffrath, a YouTuber known as "Meet Kevin.”
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On Saturday, there was one big surprise: Conservative talk show host Larry Elder did not appear on the list, which suggests his paperwork did not meet all of the qualifications, but he said later that "I fully expect to be on the final certified list of candidates" that will be released Wednesday. Elder has drawn some buzz and money since becoming one of the last Republicans to jump in. Former Trump administration official Richard Grenell had already revealed before last week’s deadline that he wouldn’t be running.
SHOW US THE MONEY: The Secretary of State’s office on Sunday posted a batch of tax returns — which candidates are required to share if they want to be on the ballot — offering snapshots of candidates’ respective financial situations. Some tidbits: Jenner’s adjusted gross income in 2019 was about $550,000, a sharp drop from about $2.5 million in 2016; also in 2019, Cox collected about $750,000 in rent from his properties and Faulconer gave about $6,600 to charity; and Kiley does his own taxes. We’ll keep digging through the hundreds of pages for newsworthy items. Some more details here from POLITICO California editor Kevin Yamamura , who reports more than half of the gubernatorial entrants earned less than $100,000 in adjusted gross income in 2019.
