California’s population fell by more than 182,000 in 2020, the state’s first yearly population decline in recorded history, as thousands of residents fled the Democratic-controlled state.
The shocking exodus could be an issue for embattled governor Gavin Newsom (D., Calif.), who will face a recall election later this year. Earlier this week, the California secretary of state announced recall proponents had collected enough valid signatures to trigger a gubernatorial recall, the first of its kind in nearly two decades.
Rising crime and homelessness, unaffordable housing costs, exorbitant tax rates, and a botched response to the COVID-19 pandemic are among the factors fueling the effort to oust Newsom, who was busted on several occasions for flouting the state’s pandemic-related restrictions on public gatherings.
Residents have been fleeing California on a consistent basis over the last decade. According to a census data analysis, 6.1 million people left California for others states between 2010 and 2020, compared with 4.9 million who moved to California from other states during that same period. Last year’s population decline suggests residents are increasingly fed up with the Democratic Party’s stranglehold on the state’s political system and with elected politicians’ inability to address the numerous crises facing the state.
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Newsom is not the only Democrat in California to come under fire for failed leadership. Chesa Boudin, the radical left-wing district attorney of San Francisco, is facing two separate recall campaigns that have until Aug. 11 to collect the required amount of signatures. Boudin was recently the subject of a 60 Minutes profile that was largely sympathetic to his controversial efforts to reform the criminal justice system by refusing to charge and imprison violent criminals.- READ MORE
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