Newsom wins San Bernardino County in recall vote — barely

The final votes have been counted in San Bernardino County. Gov. Gavin Newsom has beaten back the recall there — but just by the skin of his teeth.

According to the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, which released the final tally from the Sept. 14 gubernatorial recall election Thursday, Oct. 14, Newsom won the county by a mere 2,513 votes.

That means Riverside County remains the only county in Southern California, and the largest in the state, to vote in favor of recalling Newsom. According to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters, 50.5% of voters backed the recall in that county, and 49.5% were against it.

In all, 286,364 San Bernardino County residents voted yes on the recall, while 288,877 voted no, or 49.78% to 50.22%.

In a much less close vote, broadcaster Larry Elder won 61.59% among those wanted to replace Newsom had the recall succeeded. Elder received 225,674 votes.

The governor probably wasn’t losing sleep waiting on the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters. According to the California Secretary of State’s office, as of Thursday afternoon, more than 61.9% of voters statewide voted against the recall, identical to when he won election in 2018.

Once a reliably conservative county, San Bernardino County has been drifting to the left in recent years. According to the California Secretary of State, as of Aug. 30, 41.16% of voters in the county were registered Democrats, followed by 29.36% registered as Republicans and 21.8% registered as No Party Preference.