NEWSWEEK: Gavin Newsom Notified of Intent to Recall as Petition Reaches Target

California Governor Gavin Newsom has officially been notified of an attempt to remove him from his position after an intent to recall petition reached the required number of signatures, Newsweek has learned.

It comes after wildfires have ravaged Southern California, killing 29 people and destroying thousands of homes.

Why It Matters

California has suffered devastating damage from wildfires that started around Los Angeles County and recently spread to Venture and San Diego. The fires around Los Angeles destroyed just over 40,000 acres, with the bulk of the damage caused by the Palisades and Eaton fires—both of which are now largely, but not yet fully, contained.

Since then, several California officials, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) Chief Kristin Crowley, have faced criticism. However, Newsom, a potential Democratic contender for the 2028 presidential election, has taken the most blame.

What to Know

An intention to recall petition against Newsom, seen by Newsweek, has surpassed the 50 signatures required to initiate recall proceedings against the governor.

It received 105 signatures, and was sent to Newsom on Monday, Saving California Chairman Randy Economy, who is a former senior adviser to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., told Newsweek. Under California law, recipients of a recall petition have 10 days to acknowledge the notice after they receive it.

Once that’s done and the petition is approved by the state, a process expected to take a few weeks of signature gathering for the recall petition can officially begin. While the recall effort is set to start collecting signatures within 30 days, the group Saving California is pushing for an earlier launch. To qualify for the ballot, organizers will need to gather between 1.2 million and 1.3 million signatures over 160 days.

Economy told Newsweek he is confident that goal can be reached in light of the Los Angeles wildfires.

“If we don’t get this done in a couple of weeks, I’ll be shocked. The anger is driving this, and we’ve been bombarded 24 hours a day for the past two weeks with people asking, “Where do I sign? How do I get my petition?” The demand is there, and it’s only going to grow stronger,” he said.

The intent to recall petition accuses Newsom of “gross mismanagement during the Los Angeles County fires,” saying that “inadequate resources and delayed responses left communities devastated.”

The petition also outlines several other reasons for the recall attempt, including rising living costs, increased crime, homelessness, drug issues and border concerns. It claims that tax funds are being misallocated towards political agendas rather than addressing urgent public needs.

Newsom has come under fire for California’s response to the wildfires. President Donald Trump this month claimed Newsom had blocked an infusion of water to Southern California because of concern about the impact on a threatened fish. It came after water shortages allegedly hampered firefighting efforts in Los Angeles—a claim that state officials deny.

“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California,” the post added. “Now the ultimate price is being paid.”

Newsom’s office said the declaration didn’t exist, saying: “There is no such document as the water restoration declaration – that is pure fiction.”

There is no official “water restoration declaration” as Trump claimed, but there have been disputes between him and Newsom over water policy. In 2019, Trump signed federal regulations allowing more water to flow from Northern California to the Central Valley, bypassing environmental protections for fish species. Newsom responded with a lawsuit, arguing the move violated environmental laws. In 2024, new rules under Newsom and Biden altered California’s water distribution system.

Last Friday, Newsom and Trump met in California. Days later, Trump claimed the U.S. military had entered California and “turned on the water.” The California Department of Water Resources responded in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that the “military did not enter California.”

Trump also threatened to withhold federal aid for the region unless the state changed its approach on water management.

Previous Recall Efforts Against Newsom

Several recall efforts have been mounted against Newsom since he was sworn in as governor in 2019. The last one was in 2024 when Rescue California failed to gather the 1.3 million signatures required to launch a recall petition.

The most successful attempt to date came in 2021, where organizers collected enough signatures to place the recall on the ballot. However, Newsom managed to defeat the recall in September of that year, with 7.9 million voting against the recall and 4.9 million voting for it.

While 2021’s recall attempt was defeated, Economy said he thinks this time is different.

“It’s 100% different,” he said. “Completely different type of attitude, completely different type of anger. People are really, really angry. And when you get anger like this, you can’t put the genie back into the bottle.

“Right now, Newsom is trying to raise $100 million here, $100 million there from corporate interests to put into some slush fund he controls, supposedly to help rebuild the Palisades. Are you kidding me? His ego is so out of control, he needs a reality check.

“Gavin Newsom might be bigger than life in some people’s eyes, but he’s just a really bad politician. He’s not ready to be the leading man. We need a governor. It’s real simple—we’re going to fire him.”

What People Are Saying

Saving California Chairman Randy Economy told Newsweek: “I think people right now have had it. The people who lost their homes have had it. These were his traditional base of voters, and they’re all disgusted with him. The anger is something I’ve never seen in California politics. I’ve been doing this for 40 years as a consultant, and I’ve never seen so much anger in my life.

“When I did the last recall that got on the ballot three years ago, there wasn’t this level of anger. He was able to raise $175 million and put together a very formidable coalition, from the White House down to Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren. Every political superstar came to California every other day to campaign for him. Well, he’s not going to have that this time. He’s on his own. People have had it. We need a full-time chief executive officer—someone who will focus on the needs of the average Californian. Gavin Newsom only cares about running for president.”

Nathan Click, a spokesperson for Governor Gavin Newsom, told Newsweek: “Governor Newsom is focused on marshalling resources for fire recovery—not politics. Readers still should have the context that the same group of far right Trump acolytes have launched 7 different recall attempts against the governor since he’s taken office, each of which have failed spectacularly. Even Republican Party leaders have criticized these repeated attempts as a brazen campaign finance ‘grift,’ and the recall organizers have been sued by their own donors for pocketing funds raised previously. For example, they didn’t even turn in a single signature in their last attempt.”

Click was referring to Rescue California. Saving California is not linked to Rescue California.

What Happens Next

Newsom has not yet responded to the petition. He will now have 10 days to do so before a 160-day period kicks in for signatures to be gathered for the recall petition to be placed on the ballot for Californians to vote on.