Gov. Newsom to face recall election after state confirms petition signatures

Recall election for Governor Gavin Newsom qualifies for California ballot

California Governor Gavin Newsom will face a recall election after the Republican-led effort to remove him from office reached its signature goal to qualify for the ballot on Monday, state officials reported.

LOS ANGELES - It's official.

Governor Gavin Newsom will face a recall election after the state determined the petition pushing to get Newsom out of office gained enough signatures.

On Wednesday, California's finance department announced despite county election officials subtracting the total number of withdrawn signatures from the total number of valid signatures, the state confirmed there were still enough signatures to move forward with the recall election.

According to the state's final report, a total of 43 signatures were withdrawn and 1,719,900 other signatures were verified.

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PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Recall election for Governor Gavin Newsom qualifies for California ballot

With the recall election now heading to ballot later this year, California voters will have to decide, should Newsom be recalled? If so, who should replace him.

If Newsom does not get recalled, he will be up for re-election in 2022.

As of Wednesday, Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, former Congressman Doug Ose and businessman John Cox are among the candidate vying for Newsom's seat as the California Governor.

This will be the second gubernatorial recall election to take place in California. The first gubernatorial recall election happened in 2003 when Arnold Schwarzenegger beat out incumbent Governor Gray Davis.