California Recall Candidates Promise to Repeal Gavin Newsom’s Mask Mandate

Republicans challenging incumbent Gov. Gavin Newsom are vowing to repeal the new mask mandate he announced this week, requiring health care workers and state employees to be vaccinated or to submit to regular coronavirus testing.

Newsom made his announcement on Monday, amid growing concerns that the delta variant of the coronavirus could still infect some proportion of those who are vaccinated, though symptoms are thought to be less severe due to the vaccine.

Talk show host Larry Elder, who is currently leading the field of contenders in the Sep. 14 recall, said that while he himself chose to be vaccinated, he does not believe people should be forced to do so, and would repeal the mandate, once elected:

I got the vaccine.
If you want the vaccine, you should get it.
If you don’t want it, you shouldn’t get it, and won’t be forced to by the State of California — if I win.
End of story.https://t.co/mnvU6s5Wid#RecallGavinNewsom #WeveGotAStateToSave https://t.co/Q5kajaLXVQ

— Larry Elder (@larryelder) July 28, 2021

Olympian transgender advocate Caitlin Jenner also tweeted that she would repeal Newsom’s mask mandate, once in office:

Repeal the Newsom Mask Mandate!

— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) July 27, 2021

2018 gubernatorial candidate John Cox issued a statement accusing Newsom of abusing his powers through his mandates:

.@GavinNewsom used the coronavirus to grab power & thinks he’s King of California. But the courts slapped him down again. His illegal shutdowns are another in a long list of failures. From wildfires, to homelessness, to the middle class fleeing CA; Newsom isn’t working for us. pic.twitter.com/Iv6elMp6L2

— John Cox (@BeastJohnCox) July 26, 2021

Newsom is considered increasingly vulnerable, as support for recalling him surged to 47% in one recent poll.

President Joe Biden is expected to roll out new vaccine and mask mandates for federal workers as well by the weekend.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.