Editing Governor of California (section)

====Recall by the voters====
Petitions signed by California state voters equal to 12% of the last vote for the office of governor (with signatures from each of five counties equal to 1% of the last vote for governor in the county) can launch a gubernatorial [[recall election]]. The voters can then vote on whether or not to recall the incumbent governor, and on the same ballot can vote for a potential replacement. If a majority of the voters in the election vote to recall the governor, then the person who gains a plurality of the votes in the replacement race will become governor.

Only two governor recall attempts have ever gained enough signatures to make the ballot in California. The [[2003 California gubernatorial recall election|2003 recall election]] began with a petition drive that forced Democratic governor [[Gray Davis]] into a recall election, which he lost. He was replaced by Republican [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]. It was the first time that a California governor was voted out of office by Recall.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Recall History in California (1913 to June 30, 2022) |url=https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/recalls/recall-history-california-1913-present |access-date=2022-11-16 |website=California Secretary of State}}</ref>

In addition to the successful 2003 recall, current governor [[Gavin Newsom]] faced a [[2021 California gubernatorial recall election|recall election in 2021]], which he defeated.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-09-14|title=California Gov. Gavin Newsom stays in power as recall fails|url=https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-california-climate-elections-a590782877be099d44f1766b2d138394|access-date=2021-09-15|website=AP NEWS|language=en}}</ref>