Democrats see a midterm map in California recall success

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Few Democrats were surprised to see Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom swat down a Republican-driven recall campaign in bright-blue California. But they were pleased with how he did it.

By making the race into a referendum on former President Donald Trump and his supporters' “extreme” resistance to coronavirus precautions, Newsom offered a formula for survival that could translate to dozens of races in next year's midterm elections, Democrats said. A healthy turnout, spurred by some late anxiety, showed Democrats remain eager to vote against the former president, even when he's not on the ballot.

California voters rejected the "Republican brand that is centered around insurrection and denying the pandemic,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Republicans said they saw nothing to worry about in the California results. Losing badly in a liberal stronghold isn't much of a prediction of the party's performance in battlegrounds like Florida or Georgia, they said. They argue they were saddled with a flawed candidate — talk radio host Larry Elder, the Republican frontrunner whom Democrats likened to a Trump clone in a state the former president lost by 30 percentage points and did little to appeal to moderate voters in swingy suburbs.

But President Joe Biden and his party won’t have it as easy next year as Newsom did, said Ron Nehring, a former chairman of the California Republican Party who was harshly critical of Elder and worked for one of his rivals

“Gavin Newsom had one opponent who he was able to define in the minds of enough swing voters,” he said. "No. 1, Biden himself is not going to be on the ballot and No. 2, he does not have a singular opponent.”

On Wednesday, Biden embraced Newsom's...