Democrats are panicking.
They know that California could flip red this fall.
And now, they’re dumping an unimaginable amount of money to save Gavin Newsom and Joe Biden from a humiliating defeat.
The California recall election is heating up, and now, campaign finance reports are showing that Democrats are lighting money on fire in order to bail out embattled Democrat governor Gavin Newsom from what could very well be a historic defeat later this fall.
With polls showing the outcome remains in doubt, Democrats know that a loss for Newsom would likely result in Republican Larry Elder becoming the next governor of the largest, bluest, state in the nation.
Worse yet for Democrats, a defeat in California would spell a serious political defeat for Joe Biden, who would preside over one of the largest electoral upsets against Democrats in decades.
If Newsom goes down in defeat this fall, it would mark the first time since 2006 that California has elected a Republican statewide.
This is something Joe Biden and his political allies in the Democrat party are determined to avoid, and now, they are dumping tens of millions of dollars into starving off defeat.
MSN reports, “Gov. Gavin Newsom and his allies boosted the Democrat’s chances of beating the recall attempt by significantly outspending his opponents in August, putting more than $36 million into efforts that included TV advertising and social media, phone-banking, door-knocking and texting.”
“The five top Republicans running to replace Newsom and pro-recall committees combined spent less than a third as much over the same period, according to campaign finance disclosures filed Thursday with the secretary of state’s office.”
The money advantage has helped Newsom retain a small lead in the recall polls, with most averages indicating the embattled governor could end up winning by around 5 points.
But this small lead has come at an enormous cost, with Democrats lighting money on fire to save a governor of one of the most liberal states in the nation in an election that virtually no one ever predicted would be competitive.
“Newsom, who enjoys an overwhelming fundraising advantage over his opponents, used that edge to stoke Democratic enthusiasm after a series of polls suggested his fellow partisans were less engaged than Republicans and others supporting the recall. More recently, polls show the governor has as much as a double-digit lead. And anti-recall forces have raised $72.4 million, more than double that of candidates and political committees backing the recall,” concludes MSN.
This amount of money could very well save Newsom from losing his job later this year, but it comes at a serious cost.
For every dollar the Democrats dump into the California recall election, that’s one less dollar they will have to spend on keeping Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer in charge of the House of Representatives and the US Senate.
With the 2022 midterm elections showing Republicans on the verge of making serious gains in both chambers of Congress, Democrats need as much money as possible to save their slim congressional majorities, and the California recall election is currently eating away at money the party would rather spend on critical races that will determine control of Congress next year.