Political revolution on the west coast?

The recall of three far-left San Francisco school board members may portend a new political alignment in California.

In the end, the vote on Feb. 15 wasn’t close. The percentages in favor of recall were 76-24, 72-28, and 69-31. Keep in mind that in the 2020 Presidential election, San Francisco went for Joe Biden by a margin of 85-13.

Only three members of the current board were eligible for recall. Complaints against the board centered on their refusal to re-open schools as COVID began to wane and the board’s efforts to rename 44 district schools currently honoring controversial historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln. The city’s mayor, London Breed, who supported the recall effort, will name temporary replacements.

The ousted board president, Gabriela Lopez, blamed the outcome on the “consequence” of her “fight for racial justice.” She is quoted as saying,

White supremacists are enjoying this, and the support of the recall is aligned with this.

Actual white supremacists are rather thin on the ground in the City by the Bay, and certainly can’t command 3-1 majorities in a city-wide election, no matter how low the turnout.

Other observers pointed to the impact of Asian-American parents as driving the recall result. Persons of Asian heritage make up more than a third of the city’s population. White residents make up less than half of the total.

Next up for San Francisco voters is the June 7 recall of far-left District Attorney Chesa Boudin. First elected in 2019, Boudin’s soft-on-crime approach has frustrated enough voters that more than 83,000 signed recall petitions. Predictably, Boudin supporters blame Republicans. There are not 83,000 Republican voters in the city.

Boudin replaced George Gascon as chief prosecutor of San Francisco. Oddly enough, Gascon himself is subject to a recall election of his own. In 2020, Gascon moved south and got elected as District Attorney of Los Angeles County, a move that shifted both localities further to the left.

Gascon’s brought his San Francisco-style soft-on-crime approach to the LA basin.

Gascon’s recall effort is still gathering signatures. But 98 percent of his unionized workforce of deputy prosecutors voted to back the recall effort.

Buckle up!