Free Republic

Voters in California’s 29th State Senate district recalled freshman Democrat Josh Newman in Tuesady’s California primary over his vote for Governor Jerry Brown’s 12-cent-per-gallon gas tax hike, replacing him with Republican Ling Ling Chang and definitively denying Democrats a supermajority in the upper house.

12:20 a.m. Wednesday California Democrats have been denied their supermajority in the state Senate. Voters in an Orange County district on Tuesday elected former Republican Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang in a recall election against a Democrat. Voters removed Democratic Sen. Josh Newman from office over his vote to raise gas taxes last year. That means Senate Democrats won't hold the two-thirds majority needed to pass tax and fee increases. Newman narrowly won the traditionally Republican district in the 2016 election, and both parties saw him as vulnerable. A Republican-backed effort to repeal the tax increase is likely to be on...

After two years in office, Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) was recalled Tuesday for his vote to increase the gas tax to repair the state’s woefully maintained streets and expand its inadequate transit systems. Political opportunism won over responsible governance. Republicans launched the recall campaign after Newman supported the gas tax increase in Senate Bill 1, which needed a two-thirds majority to pass. But Newman’s vote was pretext. Really, Republicans were trying to win back a seat that Newman narrowly won in 2016 and that was historically held by the GOP. The campaign worked. Newman is out and Republican former assemblywoman...

An embattled state senator could face a recall election as soon as this fall after an appeals court on Monday delayed enforcement of a law crafted by Democrats to slow down the process. The new law was written with hopes of delaying a recall election for state Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) until next year, but his opponents have wanted a special election this year. They targeted the freshman lawmaker after his vote in favor of gas and vehicle taxes as part of a $52-billion transportation plan.

Despite Jerry Brown using "goon squads" to intimidate voters, and angry Democratic Party leaders verbally assaulting signature gatherers, organizers of the effort to recall California state Sen. Josh Newman (D-Orange County) gathered 85,000 signatures in support of a recall election. Sensing Newman's vulnerability, legislators changed the recall rules ex post facto (which will assuredly be legally challenged by recall supporters), and now Democrats are stepping up their attacks on people who organize dissent in the state. College students. Or, more specifically, three College Republicans who volunteered as signature gatherers. That's right. The California Democratic Party is suing them, accusing...