Gavin Newsom Attacks Trump and ‘The Big Lie’ In Victory Speech: ‘Democracy Is Not a Football. You Don’t Throw It Around’

Gov. Gavin Newsom swatted away the effort to recall him on Tuesday, as Democratic strongholds turned out in large numbers to vote ‘no’ on the recall and keep him in office.

Speaking shortly after several major news outlets called the race, Newsom gave a brief speech in Sacramento.

“‘No’ is not the only thing that was expressed tonight,” he said. “I want to focus on what we said yes to as a state.”

He continued,

We said yes to science. We said yes to vaccines. We said yes to ending this pandemic. We said yes to people’s right to vote without fear of fake fraud or voter suppression. We said yes to women’s fundamental constitutional right to decide for herself what she does with her body and her fate and future. We said yes to diversity. We said yes to inclusion. We said yes to pluralism. We said yes to all those things that he we hold dear as Californians, and I would argue as Americans.

Newsom cited a statement that former President Donald Trump made in which he claimed that the election in California would be “rigged” in the governor’s favor:

Democracy is not a football. You don’t throw it around. It’s more like a, I don’t know, an antique vase. You can drop it and smash it in a million different pieces. And that’s what we’re capable of doing if we don’t stand up to meet the moment and push back. I said this many, many times on the campaign trail. You know, we may have defeated Trump, but Trumpism is not dead in this country. The Big Lie. The January 6th insurrection. All the voting suppression efforts that are happening all across this country, what’s happening with the assault on fundamental rights, constitutionally protected rights of women and girls. It’s a remarkable moment in our nation’s history.

Newsom concluded by saying, “Tonight I’m humbled, grateful, but resolved in the spirit of my political hero, Robert Kennedy, to make more gentle the life of this world. Thank you all very much, and thank you to 40 million Americans, 40 million Californians, and thank you for rejecting this recall. Good night, everybody.”

Had Newsom been recalled, the next governor would be the candidate who received the most votes on the flip side of the ballot. (By law, the governor cannot be one of the candidates.) In that case, right wing talk radio talk show host Larry Elder would have been the runaway winner.

Like Trump, Elder has suggested in recent weeks there are “shenanigans” afoot in the election, though he did not specify exactly what he meant. He has refused to say whether he would accept the results of the election as legitimate in the event Newsom was not recalled.

Watch above via CNN.