With around 65% of the ballots counted as of Tuesday night, “no” on the question of whether to recall the sitting Democratic governor was ahead by a 30-point margin.
Central to this was Larry Elder, the leading GOP candidate running to replace Newsom, who said last week he would win despite unspecified voting “shenanigans.” Hours before voting closed, Elder’s campaign website even promoted a baseless conspiracy that suggested the election had already been stolen.
But Elder’s open admission of defeat and calls for his supporters to be “gracious” fell on deaf ears among the millions of people who have spent the last 10 months being convinced—by a mixture of right-wing media, conspiracy theorists, and GOP election officials—that democracy in the United States is broken.
Tonight, a Great Flood of whining, hurt feelings, rigging accusations, conspiracy theories, and can kicking from QAnon gurus about the #CARecall. Tomorrow, the fundraising newsletters. pic.twitter.com/kq7JB9ZdVZ
— Mike Rothschild (@rothschildmd) September 15, 2021
Right-wing commentator Michelle Malkin told her 2 million Twitter followers that Elder should “continue to lead against COVID tyranny, anti-American/anti-white multiculti madness, crime run amok and election fraud.”
Actress and Trump supporter Maggie VandenBerghe tweeted to her 130,000 followers: “California rigged their election for Gavin Newsom — what a shocker,” before adding: “I don’t know how many times I need to say this but — elections aren’t real.”
Ron Watkins, the QAnon facilitator who was one of the key players in promoting the election fraud narrative during the 2020 presidential election, held a poll for his 420,000 followers, asking them if they “felt” the recall election had been rigged.