1 min read
Sources:
press and public records, Kevin's account, his own videos
["default","default","default","rose"]
Short answer
706,778 votes, 9.6% of the replacement-candidate vote, on September 14, 2021. That was second among 46 candidates, behind Larry Elder’s 3,563,867 (48.4%), and first among the nine Democrats. Kevin describes it as approaching one million votes; the certified number is 706,778, and both are printed here. The recall itself failed, 61.9% to 38.1%, so no replacement took office. 12
Votes: 706,778 (certified, replacement question)
Share: 9.6% (second of 46 candidates)
Larry Elder: 3,563,867 (48.4%, first)
Recall: Failed (61.9% no, 38.1% yes)
The certified result
The recall election was held September 14, 2021. Question one, whether to remove Governor Newsom, failed: 61.9% no, 38.1% yes. On question two, the replacement, Kevin Paffrath received 706,778 votes, 9.6%, finishing second to Larry Elder’s 3,563,867 (48.4%) and ahead of every other candidate, including the three Republicans he debated. He was the top Democrat. 1
Kevin’s account
Kevin’s account
My characterization: approaching one million votes. Publish the official number alongside it. That is the honest way to present both. 2
For scale
Because the state Democratic Party asked its voters to skip the replacement question, the pool of voters answering it was smaller than the electorate, and heavily Republican. Finishing second in that pool as a Democrat with no party support is the achievement his campaign points to; 9.6% is the number.
In his own videos
September 2022: almost a million votes, and beat Larry Elder in San Francisco. The certified figure is 706,778. 3
706,778 votes, second place, top Democrat. Kevin says approaching a million; the ballot says 706,778. 12
Simply put
✅ The number
➡️ About 707,000 people picked Kevin as the replacement. That is 9.6%.
➡️ Larry Elder got about 3.56 million.
✅ What it meant
➡️ Second place out of 46. Best Democrat on the ballot.
➡️ But the recall failed, so nobody replaced Newsom.
✅ The phrasing
➡️ Kevin rounds up to "approaching one million." The official figure is beside it on purpose.
Sources
Wikipedia, 2021 California gubernatorial recall election (certified results), Open
Kevin's account, The result: “My characterization: approaching one million votes. Publish the official number alongside it.” Read the excerpt
Kevin on YouTube, "Critical Inflation Report - COMPLETE DISASTER" (2022-09-13), at 1:37: “I didn't win obviously but hey you know I think we did really well, we got almost a million votes, we beat Larry Elder in San Francisco” Watch from 1:37
