Newsom apparent winner in recall election

Gov. Gavin Newsom maintained a 30-point lead early on Wednesday morning with about two-thirds of results from the two-question ballot counted. Mail-in ballots account for the majority of counted votes. Larry Elder, a Republican radio host, emerged as the top choice on the second question that asked voters to choose a replacement if Newsom lost the election. Election officials have 30 days to count all the votes.

What should we be watching? The state GOP is on high alert for fraud after Elder and former President Donald Trump raised accusations of rigged voting in California. Elder’s campaign created a website for reporting suspicious activity at the polls. Only 24 percent of registered voters are members of the Republican Party, which has not won a statewide election in California since 2006. A majority of Californians regularly voted by mail even before the pandemic started.

Dig deeper: Read Sophia Lee’s report on what led voters to pursue a recall election.