Diving into the latest California recall vote results + Condolences pour in for Scott Lay

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

THE STATE OF THE RECALL ELECTION

A little more than a week after the California recall election, Gov. Gavin Newsom is sitting pretty, with 63% of voters voting to reject the recall, according to the latest numbers from the California Secretary of State’s Office.

That’s 7.2 million voters, compared to the 4.2 million who voted “Yes” on the recalling the governor.

Tuesday marked the final day that ballots postmarked by Sept. 14 would be accepted by county election offices.

Thus far, statewide turnout is sitting at 52%, with the highest turnout (75%) being in Amador County (which voted “Yes” on the recall) and the lowest turnout (21%) being in Imperial County (which voted “No” on the recall).

Larry Elder remains the top vote-getter of all the recall candidates, with 3 million votes. By comparison, 5 million chose not to vote for any candidate. Elder also remains the top vote-getter in every county but San Francisco, where Kevin Paffrath maintains a narrow lead with 26,376 votes to Elder’s 26,206 votes.

Speaking of Paffrath, the No. 2 vote-getter with 636,711 votes statewide recently polled his Twitter followers on whether he should run for governor again. Out of 6,505 votes, 53% said yes.

Paffrath ruled out running for the office of mayor, tweeting that, ”Democrats have FULL control in CA: they have $$$, power, supermajorities. Yet quality of life is declining. Why? Failed leadership by the Governor. Unfortunately, a great mayor would just be a cog in a system of disgrace & failure. I will not run for mayor.”

CONDOLENCES COME IN FOR SCOTT LAY

Yesterday, we shared the sad news that Scott Lay, an institution at the Capitol, had passed away.

On Tuesday, condolences poured in on social media.

Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis tweeted, “Soon after I took office in 2019, I joined @scottlay on his podcast. We shared an interest in higher education issues, and he was genuinely kind and thoughtful. He will be deeply missed by the Capitol community. We will never forget him.”

The California Building Trades Council tweeted “Godspeed,” while Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California tweeted that Lay’s passing was “a loss felt deeply in the Capitol community and beyond.”

Former Sen. Holly Mitchell tweeted that Lay’s passing “hit me like a rock.”

“His bday shout outs made us ALL feel special. The Nooner was always good to me, and so was Scott. RIP my friend,” she wrote.

Assemblyman Miguel Santiago tweeted that Lay was “such a force in California politics and a strong fellow advocate for free community college in California.”

Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks tweeted that she was “reading the memories being shared by those who called Scott a friend, reflect how deep a loss this is to the Capitol community.”

The Community College League of California, of which Lay was a former CEO, tweeted that “Scott was a passionate advocate, brilliant budget analyst, and sophisticated observer of California politics.”

Paul Mitchell, who was a close friend of Lay’s, announced the creation of the Scott Lay Memorial Scholarship for students at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. You can donate to that fund by visiting here.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“For a THIRD time, the majority party has canceled a critical EDD oversight hearing. Apparently they couldn’t find room to socially distance? They’ve had months to figure this out & a whole Capitol to choose from. Do they think it’s OK that potentially $31B in fraud occurred?”

- Senate Republican Leader Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, via Twitter.

Best of the Bee:

• In the first test of their willingness to cut back on water use during the drought, Californians reduced residential consumption by just 1.8% in July compared to a year earlier — well short of what Gov. Gavin Newsom has been seeking, via Dale Kasler.

• Millions more Californians will get $600 to $1,100 payments from the state in the next couple weeks, via Jeong Park.

• The median price of a single-family home rose to $827,940 in August, the fifth record high in the last six months, according to the California Department of Finance, via Andrew Sheeler.

• A High Desert State Prison employee is on leave amid allegations he shot another prison employee Sunday in Susanville, via Wes Venteicher.