How Blue Is Contra Costa? Pro-Newsom Voters Here Surpassed CA Average By This Much

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday became the second governor in U.S. history to trample a recall effort to oust him from his post. The first-term governor received an overwhelming supportive vote Tuesday night, and news outlets called the race less than an hour after polls closed.

The election had Newsom supporters worried for a moment amid slipping margins in midsummer polls and apparent voter apathy among Democrats. But Tuesday’s "no" votes overshadowed the "yes" votes 63.9 percent to 36.1 percent.

On Wednesday morning, 100 percent of the state's precincts had reported, according to figures released by the Secretary of State's Office.

And in Contra Costa County, the vote wasn't particularly close.

More than seven in 10 local voters said “no” to recalling the governor, while nearly three in 10 voted to unseat him as of Wednesday. That's more than nine percentage-points above the state average.

Turnout was 49 percent of the county’s 708,000 registered voters, according to the latest update from the Secretary of State’s Office.

U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) of the East Bay was quick to chime in as early results revealed a significant margin in Newsom's favor.

Goodnight anti-vaxxers. Goodnight anti-choicers. Goodnight gun nuts. Goodnight climate deniers. Goodnight moon.

And goodnight CA Radical Republicans.

Catch us at the midterms.
— Eric Swalwell (@ericswalwell) September 15, 2021

Results will be certified by Oct. 22. Officials must still count some provisional ballots and ballots that were mailed in.

Statewide, total voter turnout was 9,176,526, or 41.6 percent of more than 22 million registered voters. The "no" votes totaled 5,840,283 and the yes votes totaled 3,297,145.

"Thank you for rejecting this recall," Newsom said while declaring victory at the John L. Burton California Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento just moments after the race was called by The Associated Press.

If Democrats seemed slow to participate in the election, they came out in droves in the end, and high voter turnout worked in Newsom’s favor. With votes still being tallied, Newsom outpaced his own record in the 2018 election, driving numbers up across several pivotal counties.

He exceeded President Joe Biden's margin of victory in California in 2020 in several counties. And populous counties that historically leaned toward Republican victories — including Orange, Riverside and San Diego — came out against the recall Tuesday.

"'No' is not the only thing that was expressed tonight," Newsom said Tuesday night. "I want to focus on what we said 'yes' to as a state: We said yes to science. We said yes to vaccines. We said yes to ending this pandemic."

If there seemed to be an enthusiasm gap between energetic Republicans and apathetic Democrats more than a month ago — that impression was dispelled Tuesday. Some 4.9 million Democrats turned in ballots, compared to 2.5 million ballots from Republicans.

The Republican Party needed all the help it could get in a blue state like California.

Democrats make up 46.5 percent of all registered voters. Republicans account for just 24 percent. Republicans have not won the governor’s seat since 2006, when Arnold Schwarzenegger won re-election as governor following the 2003 recall of Gray Davis.

But it’s safe to say that voters won’t see the last of Newsom’s biggest GOP threat — talk show host Larry Elder — who conceded in Orange County on Tuesday night.

"Come on, let's be gracious in defeat," Elder said to a booing crowd after announcing Newsom's win. He closed that speech with: “We’ve got a state to save.”

— Patch Editor Paige Austin contributed to this report.