TRENTON, NJ – In 2019, a large group of non-affiliated, independent thinkers got together to start a recall of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. Over the course of nearly a year, the group was able to gather hundreds of thousands of petition signatures from every day New Jerseyeans on both sides of the aisle, but in the end, they came up short.
In California, a similar group was able to get 1.5 million signatures to remove California Governor Gavin Newsome and that petition was a success.
Before we go on, check out the Recall Gavin 20202 website to download the petition.
What we know so far…
- 1.5 million of the required 2,000,000 signatures have been collected in California.
- California GOP donated $125,000 to recall.
- Phil Murphy recall fell short.
- Gavin Newsome starting to feel the heat in California
Why did California succeed where New Jersey failed?
There are several reasons why California’s recall effort succeeded where New Jersey failed. The biggest reason is that the New Jersey effort received absolutely no official support or endorsement from the state GOP party. New Jersey’s recall effort was also sabotaged by so-called “Republican Media” voices in the state, who cheered on it’s failure instead of lending their voice to the effort to help the recall succeed.
The New Jersey Republican State Committee offered absolutely no financial or moral support publicly for the New Jersey recall. The California GOP donated $125,000 to their state’s recall committee, giving the entire recall effort serious legitimacy.
The New Jersey recall effort was treated from day one by many Republican organizations in the state as an illegitimate pipe dream. Many smaller GOP municipal and county clubs did offer petition signings, but for the small group of volunteers, the recall effort became emotionally and financially draining, eventually causing infighting within its ranks.
In the end, the GOP did not want to go all-in on the New Jersey recall because it was being done by outsiders and many within the party felt threatened by those outsiders. The party took a ‘wait and see’ approach. If the effort succeeded, they would hitch their wagon. If it failed and burned they would sit and watch and say “We told you so”.
How the New Jersey failed recall emboldened Governor Murphy
Now, California is inches away from putting their liberal, leftists, socialist Democrat Governor on the ballot to be recalled, while in New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy is riding a blue wave of optimism into what will undoubtedly be his second term in office in 2022, unscathed at the recall effort, which emboldened his brand in Democrat circles. He successfully fended off a recall.
California’s recall almost there
Gavin Newsome isn’t so fortunate.
When the state’s fed-up Democrats, independents, and Republicans came together to recall Newsome who is generally despised in all circles, success was found. They now have surpassed the 1.5 million petition mark and are three-quarters of their way to their end goal of 2 million signatures.
Post mortem report for New Jersey
New Jersey’s recall could have worked if it was an all-hands-on-deck effort, but most establishment Republicans didn’t want to get their hands dirty. That’s because most of the state’s elected Republican senators and assemblymen all survive on government contracts and pay-to-play pubic appointments.
The powers that be in the New Jersey Republican party did not want to bite the hand that feeds them. These Republican figures have state contracts, county contracts and municipal contracts and at this point, being in the minority, these elected officials didn’t want to risk losing what they had left as their power diminishes election cycle after election cycle.
The true supporters of the movement were the local clubs and mayors who didn’t care who they offended by hosting signing nights and passed around petitions within their own circles.
The sad fact is that New Jersey is stuck with Governor Phil Murphy and no matter what he does, he has the statistical advantage over Republicans and will win in 2021 unless somebody in the GOP finds a backbone and launches a serious challenge against him that can also win over voters in the high population centers which lean predominantly Democrat.
