2003 California recall

The 2003 California recall was a special election permitted under California law. It resulted in voters replacing sitting Democratic Governor Gray Davis with Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger. The recall effort spanned the summer and fall of 2003.

Recall election

The ballot consisted of two questions; voters could vote on one or the other, or on both. The first question asked whether Gray Davis should be recalled. It was a simple yes/no question, and if a majority voted "no", then the second question would become irrelevant and Gray Davis would remain California governor. If a majority voted "yes", then Davis would be removed from office once the vote was certified, and the second question would determine his successor. Voters had to choose one candidate from a long list of 135 candidates. Voters who voted against recalling Gray Davis could still vote for a candidate to replace him in case the recall vote succeeded. The candidate receiving the most votes (a plurality) would then become the next governor of California. (It had previously been determined that Davis could not run as a candidate to succeed himself.) Certification by the Secretary of State would require completion within 39 days of the election, and history indicated that it could require that entire time frame to certify the statewide election results. Once the results were certified, a newly-elected governor would have to be sworn into office within 10 days.

Related Topics:
Plurality - Secretary of State

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As the mechanics of the recall became widely known, some observers noted that it could produce a seemingly undemocratic result. Davis would be removed from office if a simple majority of voters (50 percent plus 1 vote) chose "yes" on the recall question; but, with only a plurality required to choose his successor and more than two candidates running, the winner of the race to succeed him could end up with significantly less than 50 percent of the vote. For instance, if 51 percent of voters had voted "yes" on the first question, 49 percent would have tacitly voted for Davis for governor. If the leading candidate to replace Davis had received only 47 percent of the vote, he or she would have defeated the governor while receiving fewer votes.

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Those Californians wishing to run for governor were given until August 9 to file. The requirements to run were relatively low and attracted a number of interesting and strange candidates. A California citizen needed only to gather 65 signatures from their own party and pay a nonrefundable $3,500 fee to become a candidate, or "in lieu" of the fee collect up to 10,000 signatures from any party, the fee being prorated by the fraction of 10,000 valid signatures the candidate filed. No candidate in fact collected more than a handful of signatures-in-lieu, so that all paid almost the entire fee. In addition, however, candidates from recognized third parties were allowed on the ballot with no fee if they could collect 150 signatures from their own party.

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The low requirements attracted many "average joes" with no political experience to file as well as several celebrity candidates. Many prominent potential candidates chose not to run. These included Democratic U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, widely regarded as the most popular statewide office-holding Democrat in California, who cited her own experience with a recall drive while she was mayor of San Francisco. Darrell Issa, who bankrolled the recall effort and said he would run for governor, abruptly dropped out of the race on August 7 among accusations that he had bankrolled the recall effort solely to get himself into office. Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger (a fellow Republican) agreed that only one of them would run; when Schwarzenegger announced on The Tonight Show that he would be a candidate, Riordan dropped out of the race. State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi (a Democrat) announced on August 7 that he would be a candidate for governor. However, just two days later and only hours before the deadline to file, he announced "I will not engage in this election as a candidate," adding, "this recall election has become a circus." Garamendi had been under tremendous pressure to drop out from fellow Democrats who feared a split of the Democratic vote between him and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante should the recall succeed.

Related Topics:
U.S. Senator - Dianne Feinstein - Mayor - San Francisco - August 7 - Richard Riordan - Actor - Arnold Schwarzenegger - The Tonight Show - John Garamendi - Cruz Bustamante

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On September 3, five top candidates—independent Arianna Huffington, Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, Green Party candidate Peter Camejo, Republican State Senator Tom McClintock, and former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth—participated in a live television debate. Noticeably absent was Arnold Schwarzenegger (as he has repeatedly stated that he would not participate in such events until later in the election cycle), who opponents charged was not adequately prepared. http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/09/03/recall.debate/index.html Prior to this first debate, Gov. Davis spent 30 minutes answering questions from a panel of journalists and voters.

Related Topics:
September 3 - Arianna Huffington - Cruz Bustamante - Peter Camejo - Tom McClintock - Peter Ueberroth - Arnold Schwarzenegger

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Several candidates who would still be listed on the ballot dropped out of the campaign before the October 7 election. On August 23, Republican Bill Simon (the 2002 party nominee) announced he was dropping out. He said, "There are too many Republicans in this race and the people of our state simply cannot risk a continuation of the Gray Davis legacy." Simon did not endorse any candidates at the time, but several weeks later he endorsed front-runner Arnold Schwarzenegger, as did Darrell Issa, who had not filed for the race. On September 9, former MLB commissioner and Los Angeles Olympic Committee President Peter Ueberroth withdrew his candidacy in the recall election.

Related Topics:
August 23 - Bill Simon - September 9 - MLB - Los Angeles - Olympic Committee - Peter Ueberroth

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On September 24, the remaining top five candidates (Schwarzenegger, Bustamante, Huffington, McClintock, and Camejo) gathered in the University Ballroom at California State University, Sacramento, for a live televised debate http://washingtontimes.com/national/20030925-121959-4022r.htm that resembled the red-carpet premiere of a movie in Hollywood. Schwarzenegger's marquee name had attracted large crowds, a carnival atmosphere, and an army of five hundred credentialed media and paparazzi from around the world http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,12568,00.html, including reporters and crews from infotainment shows such as Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, Extra, and the E! Channel.

Related Topics:
September 24 - California State University, Sacramento - Hollywood - Paparazzi - Infotainment

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The aftermath of the debate was swift. On September 30, author Arianna Huffington withdrew her candidacy on the Larry King television program and announced that she was opposing the recall entirely in light of Arnold Schwarzenegger's surge in the polls. Apparently in response to her withdrawal, Cruz Bustamante endorsed her plan for public financing of election campaigns, an intended anti-corruption measure.

Related Topics:
September 30 - Arianna Huffington - Larry King - Arnold Schwarzenegger - Cruz Bustamante

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On October 7 the recall election was held, and voters decisively voted to recall Davis and to elect Schwarzenegger as his replacement. At 10 p.m. local time, Davis conceded that he had lost to Schwarzenegger, saying, "We've had a lot of good nights over the last 20 years, but tonight the people did decide that it's time for someone else to serve, and I accept their judgment." About 40 minutes later, in his acceptance speech, Schwarzenegger said, "Today California has given me the greatest gift of all: You've given me your trust by voting for me. I will do everything I can to live up to that trust. I will not fail you."

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The result was officially certified on November 14 and Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17. 4,206,284 voters chose Schwarzenegger for governor, while 4,007,783 voted to keep Davis in office; thus, worries about a potentially anomalous result turned out to be unfounded. See results of the 2003 California recall for more details.

Related Topics:
November 14 - November 17 - Results of the 2003 California recall

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