California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Electoral politics, Solano County CA

Recall vote – Solano showed least support for Newsom among Bay Area counties

[BenIndy editor: For updated results  check out Solano County Registrar of Voter’s Sept 14 election results here.  As of Thursday Sept 16, breakdown results by City and precinct are not yet available. 12,500 to 23,000 ballots are received but not yet processed, mostly vote-by-mail ballots.  Unofficial results as of Sept 16 show 2/3 voting NO by mail and 2/3 of a much smaller number voting YES on election day.  As of today, 111,000+ voted by mail, and only 15,000+ voted on election day.  – R. S.]

Solano was the Bay Area county most receptive to the Newsom recall

A sign against the recall is posted behind California Gov. Gavin Newsom as he talks with volunteers who are phone banking against the recall at Manny's on Aug. 13, 2021, in San Francisco. California Gov. Gavin Newsom kicked off his "Say No" to recall campaign as he prepares to face a recall election on Sept. 14.
A sign against the recall is posted behind California Gov. Gavin Newsom as he talks with volunteers who are phone banking against the recall at Manny’s on Aug. 13, 2021, in San Francisco. California Gov. Gavin Newsom kicked off his “Say No” to recall campaign as he prepares to face a recall election on Sept. 14. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
SFGATE, by Joshua Bote, September 15, 2021

The Bay Area overwhelmingly opposed the Gavin Newsom recall, with San Francisco, Marin and Alameda counties all rejecting the recall at a rate of more than 80%.

But while almost every county in the Bay Area is currently reporting more than 70% of voters opposed to the recall, one Bay Area county flirted with the idea of a recall more than any other: Solano County.

With more than 77% of votes tabulated as of Wednesday afternoon, 64.3% of Solano voters rejected the recall, according to data from CNN and the Associated Press. That’s six percentage points less than the Bay Area county with the second-smallest percentage of Newsom supporters, Napa County, where the infamous French Laundry incident that galvanized the recall effort took place.

63.9% of voters in the state voted against the recall.

Historically, Solano has proven to be among the more conservative-leaning of the Bay Area counties. But more interestingly, Solano County’s voting numbers mirror the state overall better than any other county in the Bay Area, and arguably, in the state in general.

In 2020, about 64% of Solano County voters sided with President Joe Biden — nearly the same exact percentage of California’s voters.

Same goes for the 2016 presidential election, when 61% of Solano County voters sided with Hillary Clinton, again nearly identical to the state’s vote total.

So while Solano County may lean more conservative than the rest of the Bay Area, it’s also something of a bellwether county in California — at least for these key elections.