By ONME Newswire
In this episode of News Too Real 10-22-21: California Recall and ethnic voter analysis reveals startling revelation, producer host, Julia Dudley Najieb reveals the official results of the California Recall Election according to the State of California, Secretary of State website.
The Gubernatorial Recall Election results revealed that 61.9%, roughly 7.9 million of the voters said "no" on recalling Governor Gavin Newsom; there was a 41% overall voter-turnout.
As Governor Newsom plans on running in a second term, the challenging territories maybe where his party, the Democratic party pay want to focus: The Central Valley voted an overwhelming "yes" to recall Newsom with over 51% of voters from these counties feeling this way. The upper, northern San Joaquin Valley also had very high turnout of voters who wanted to recall Newsom, with percentages over 55% average.
In an Ethnic Media Services briefing last month, experts explained how they mobilized the ethnic vote who was mostly uninformed on the 2021 California Recall Election; politicians are still only focusing on White voters as the majority, although national demographics say differently.
Dr. Raphael J. Sonenshein is the Executive Director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State LA. Previously, he was Chair of the Division of Politics, Administration, and Justice at CSU Fullerton. He received his B.A. from Princeton, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale. He is the author of three books on Los Angeles politics and government. Dr. Sonenshein served as Executive Director of the Los Angeles (Appointed) Charter Reform Commission. He served as Executive Director of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Review Commission. He was Best Educator and Distinguished College Faculty Member at CSUF. He received a Wang Family Excellence Award. He was the first winner of the campus wide Carol Barnes Award for Teaching Excellence and one of two co-winners of the Haynes Foundation Research Impact award. He was the fall 2008 Fulbright Tocqueville Distinguished Chair in American Studies at the University of Paris.
Dr. Sonenshein said the national media was drawing incorrect conclusions during the recall election, using ethnic voters as player cards. He suggested that ethnic media help voters liberate themselves from national polls; local media should get to know its own neighborhood. California is too large for national polls to do a sample of communities of color -- the results are usually not as accurate, according to Dr. Sonenshein.
Sonja Diaz, J.D., M.P.P., is the founding executive director of the Latino Policy and Politics Initiative (LPPI) at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. She is a practicing civil rights attorney and policy advisor. At LPPI, she cofounded the first multiissue policy think tank focused on Latinos in the University of California system. Ms. Diaz is is a regular contributor to the organization’s research portfolio, coauthoring The Current State of the Latino Physician Workforce: California Faces a Severe Shortfall in Latino Resident Physicians.
Prior to LPPI, she served as policy counsel to Vice President Kamala D. Harris during her first and second terms as California’s attorney general. Ms. Diaz also managed domestic policy portfolios at three California nonprofits, clerked in the White House’s Domestic Policy Council under President Barack Obama, and supported litigation efforts at MALDEF, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and California’s Bureau of Children’s Justice. She received her J.D. from the UC Berkeley School of Law and an M.P.P. from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.
Diaz said that Latino voters have been known to be late deciders when it comes to local elections in general; therefore, most of the national election polls concerning the recall were very inaccurate that mainstream media continued to push to the forefront of the news. She also feels that Democrats and politicians have not learned their lessons in reaching ethnic voters through early outreach.
Jonathan Paik (JP) strives to transform Orange County by steering the collective power of local communities through organizing and civic engagement. In 2015, JP organized Asian American and Latinx communities to challenge cities like Fullerton to transition from at-large to district elections, uplifting the voices of traditionally marginalized voters of color around issues like health care, housing, immigration, and education. In 2017, he helped organize young people to participate in national actions in Washington DC to demand passage of the DREAM Act from their local representatives. He was also involved in ballot measure campaigns in 2016, 2018 and 2020 that advanced critical economic and racial justice issues and congressional and county sheriff campaigns to promote bold new leadership in the region. JP also currently serves on the board of the Alliance for Youth Action, a national youth network of civic engagement organizations that grow progressive people power across America by empowering local young people’s organizations to strengthen democracy, fix the economy, and correct injustices through on-the-ground organizing. Before joining OCCET as executive director in 2019, he was executive director of the Korean Resource Center and KRC in Action, staffed numerous political campaigns, and worked as the Development and Operations Coordinator through the Bus Federation Civic Fund. JP is a graduate of UC Irvine with a degree in political science.
Paik described the multiracial strategy in Orange County they used that worked for the recall election where 2.3 million voters showed up to vote against the recall
Janette Robinson Flint holds the executive director position of Black Women for Wellness, a woman centered community-based organization working on reproductive justice issues as they impact Black women & girls. Ms. Robinson Flint is also part of the Los Angeles Coalition for Reproductive Justice, California Coalition for Reproductive Freedom and In Our Own Voice; National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda with the intention of lifting the experiences and voices of Black women in pursuit of health and well-being. Her work in the health field began as an advocate during her pregnancy, seeking a holistic practitioner to work with her concept of a gentle birth. Over the course of the years, her journey has included The Birthing Project USA, Great Beginnings for Black Babies, National Health Foundation, March of Dimes, California Primary Care Association, Inglewood Healthy Mothers & Babies, South Los Angeles Health Project and Women Infant & Children (South Los Angeles advisory board) Programs as well with a member of the community faculty with Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science. Travel is a love she combines with her work, attending the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing China inspired the creation of Black Women for Wellness. As a researcher in Cuba Janette witnessed the reality of what political will accomplishes with health for all. A victory that encourages health for women and girls' grounds me through the challenges, traffic and the struggle for freedom.
Ms. Robinson Flint said when they talked to some Black people, they were going to sit this one out. She also said that many Black women voters were disappointed that no one asked the opinion of the Black woman vote - no mailers were sent out, etc. Robinson Flint said she feels that politicians during this recall did not get the message of early outreach.
Michael Gomez Daly, executive director of IE United, has a long history mobilizing New American Majority populations at Powerpac.org, and Data manager, Samuel Sukaton, who has almost a decade of data and electoral experience in California with groups like Sierra Club and SEIU-UHW.
IE United is a collaboration of community agents and leaders who believe in affecting change in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, working to empower and develop leaders who look, live, and lead rooted in the broad diversity of our region. IE United was established in 2017 as a table with a focus on supporting, developing and electing candidates who support the community agenda, and brings together intersectional movements of the partner organizations in one collective vision for our region.
Daly said when they talked to ethnic voters, people were tired of the partisan politics in the Imperial Empire -- that messaging Gov. Newsom's campaign was putting out about the recall election being the fault of the Republicans was not working.
