Recall vote highlights California’s geopolitical divisions

By KATHLEEN RONAYNE and MICHAEL R. BLOOD
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The California recall election was a blowout win for Gov. Gavin Newsom that reinforced the state’s political divisions. The first-term Democrat has about 64% of the votes counted so far, with big support in coastal areas and urban centers including Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. But the rural north and agricultural Central Valley, with far fewer voters, largely wanted him gone. Newsom said he will try to be a governor who represents the interests even of those who oppose him. But Jessica Trounstine, a political science professor at the University of California, Merced, says the reality is it’s very difficult to make everyone happy.