As the California gubernatorial recall election approaches, four candidates continue leading the polls with the potential to be elected if current Governor Gavin Newsom is recalled. KHTS has put together a breakdown of the four leading candidates.
With the upcoming California gubernatorial election, Santa Clarita residents have until Sept. 14 to vote to either keep or recall incumbent Newsom, as well as choose who is the best fit to replace him.
As of Tuesday, Larry Elder leads the polls with 29.7 percent of those who wish to recall Newsom, while Kevin Paffrath follows at 6.1 percent and Kevin Faulconer at 5.1 percent, according to the California Recall Polls.
Courtesy of FiveThirtyEight
Larry Elder
Identified as Newsom’s biggest threat by Newsom himself, Larry Elder is a first-time political candidate who gained a social media following of two million users through his simultaneously political and provocative radio talk show.
His perspectives of Newsom’s shut-down of the state amid the coronavirus pandemic resonated with many like-minded viewers, prompting Elder to pursue an endeavor for politics to potentially enact progress towards his strongly held convictions expressed in his radio show.
“Nearly a third of all small businesses are gone forever because of how this man shutdown this state,” Elder said during a press conference at a church in Santa Clarita. “Many of these people in Sacramento who are passing laws and are burdening businesses have never run a hot dog stand, and here they are telling us what to do. More businesses have left in the first six months of this year than have left all of last year.”
See Related: Gubernatorial Runner Larry Elder Speaks At Santa Clarita Church
If elected, Elder plans to erase state vaccines and mask mandates and oppose minimum wage as it ”tramples” the free market, according to Elder.
He additionally remains highly critical of gun control and disputes the notion of systemic racism in America. If elected, Elder promises to address high taxes, spiking crime rates and the homelessness crisis as well as push to limit the government’s hold on people’s lives and livelihoods, according to Elder.
“Crime, it is up traumatically in every major city in California,” Elder said during the conference. “During the coronavirus, the Governor oversaw the release of 20,000 convicted felons, many of whom were violent offenders who were released early. What could go wrong?”
Elder attributes the rising crime rate to L.A. County District Attorney George Gascón and his tendency to prematurely release violent offenders alongside the lack of funding for police departments. If elected, Elder would push to have Gascón removed.
Elder’s political views reflect the idea that the government consistently oversteps in the lives of Californians, hence his opposition towards the mask mandate and the minimum wage, yet remains critical of Roe vs. Wade.
Kevin Paffrath
29-year-old YouTuber Kevin Paffrath is currently the second-highest rated behind Elder in the gubernatorial recall polls due to his following of about 1.7 million subscribers on his financial advice channel.
The democratic candidate quickly became one of Ventura’s top real estate agents and currently owns many properties in Ventura County. His experience buying and selling homes led to his introduction into the economic sector and encouraged him to create an online presence where he is able to critique and advise real estate advice, according to Paffrath.
Listed on the ballot as a “financial educator/analyst,” Paffrath creates daily content that touches on economic subjects ranging from real estate to cryptocurrency.
If elected, his first priority would focus on the homelessness crisis. He intends to use his emergency powers to build 80 shelters to provide substance abuse help, educational support, meals, showers and mental health treatment. During the construction, he’d dispatch the National Guard to help homeless people on the streets by passing out supplies and building temporary bathrooms, according to KTLA.
Once shelters are built, no one would be allowed to sleep on the streets. Transients would be picked up via ambulance and transported to shelters for support. No one would be arrested during this process, according to KTLA.
Paffrath did not even vote in the 2018 election but has quickly grown into his political beliefs during Newsom’s gubernatorial term.
Kevin Faulconer
Hoping to restore “California’s promise of freedom, equality and opportunity,” Kevin Faulconer, a previous mayor of San Diego, has announced his run for gubernatorial election to focus on economic recovery amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“What happened to the promise of California? On Gavin Newsom’s watch our schools are failing, homelessness is skyrocketing, small businesses are closing and jobs are disappearing,” according to a statement on Faulconer’s website. “His broken promises have become our problems.”
Faulconer made a stop in Santa Clarita earlier this month as a part of the California Comeback Bus Tour to meet with California residents and address his plans if elected.
“Something I have put forward in our campaign is the largest middle-class tax cut in California history to provide permanent, real relief for everybody here,” Faulconer said during his speech.
See Related: California Gubernatorial Candidate Kevin Faulconer Tour To Pass Through Santa Clarita
Towards the beginning of the conference, Faulconer asked the audience to raise their hand if they were looking to leave the state.
The request prompted almost all hands to rise, before the audience started shouting out the names of states they would like to move to given the opportunity.
“When I ask that question, I always get the same response: we all know our state’s too expensive,” Faulconer said. “People are literally voting with their feet. They want you to send more tax money to Sacramento instead of fixing the problems themselves.”
If elected, Faulconer intends to:
“I know we can restore California’s promise of freedom, equality, and opportunity,” Faulconer said on his website. “That’s our promise. That’s the California comeback.”
John Cox
Having campaigned against Newsom in the 2018 gubernatorial election, Cox lost in a landslide with less than 40 percent of the vote and has never won elected office despite many attempts, according to KTLA.
The 65-year-old businessman has continued to pitch to voters his plan to fix the state’s cost of living alongside taxes and regulations, according to KTLA.
Cox reportedly started out poor in Chicago and made money through child modeling gigs before eventually paying his way through college. He has experience as an accountant, lawyer, part-owner of a potato chip company, investment manager and realtor, according to KTLA.
Despite his success in the business field, Cox has struggled in the political arena, losing every race he’s entered.
Starting in 2000, he ran for the U.S. House and twice for the U.S. Senate in Illinois but fell short in crowded Republican primaries. Illinois political operatives and some of Cox’s rival candidates said he ran energetic campaigns rooted in fiscal and social conservatism.
If elected during the upcoming recall election, Cox plans to implement the largest tax cut in California history of $30 billion, all while closing corporate loopholes, according to Cox’s website.
Additionally, Cox intends to lower the cost of energy and improve public safety, according to the website.
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