Politics Report: Why The Recall Failed

By Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts, the Voice of San Diego

June 5, 2021

In December, after the City Council finally chose a Council president after weeks of unprecedented intrigue and then a marathon meeting, former City Councilwoman Barbara Bry, still stung by her unsuccessful mayoral campaign, announced she would help lead the recall election of the new Council president, Jen Campbell.

That’s when people started calling one another around City Hall with higher-pitched voices than usual wondering just how serious this was going to get.

Bry’s announcement and the bad feelings from the Council president battle made the fledgling recall real – or it seemed. This week the campaign to recall Campbell announced that it had failed to gather the signatures necessary to put the effort on the ballot. The campaign that roared just whimpered away.

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