Sacramento, California – California Governor Gavin Newsom survived a historic recall election Tuesday, winning a vote of confidence during a Covid-19 pandemic that has shattered families and livelihoods and tested his ability to lead the state through the largest worldwide health crisis in modern times.

National television networks called the election for Newsom shortly after the polls closed at 8:00 PM Pacific time.

Surveys of voters leaving the polls had shown the recall headed for defeat and conservative talk show host Larry Elder leading the field of 46 candidates vying to succeed Newsom.

The election provided California voters an opportunity to judge Newsom’s ability to lead the state through the Covid-19 pandemic, a worldwide health crisis that has shattered families and livelihoods.

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The recall offered Republicans their best chance in years to take the helm of the largest state in the union, though Newsom and the nation’s leading Democrats, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, portrayed the campaign to oust him as a "life and death" battle against "Trumpism" and far-right, anti-vaccine activists.

Newsom spent part of election day at an anti-recall rally in a San Francisco union hall, and warned supporters about the consequences to California’s economy and the public health of its nearly 40 million residents if he was recalled and replaced with Elder, who had vowed to repeal the state’s mask and vaccination mandates.

"California has outperformed Florida, Texas, Indiana, the United States as a whole in not only health outcomes, but economic outcomes," Newsom told reporters. "Our economy contracted at a more modest rate than those states."

Newsom also criticized both Elder and former president Donald Trump for saying Tuesday’s election was rigged, calling those unfounded allegations a threat to democracy and continuation of the "big lie" that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump.

"This election fraud stuff is a crock; it’s shameful. And when I say that, I mean that," he said.

"Guys like me come and go. We’re a dime a dozen, politicians. Quite literally a dime a dozen. Its about our institutions. It’s about this nation. It’s about trust and confidence."

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For Newsom, the election capped an extraordinary eight-week fight for his political survival that came less than three years after he won the governor’s office by the largest margin in modern history.

Newsom is the second California governor to have faced a recall vote.

In 2003, California voters upset over rolling power outages, budget cuts, and a steep increase in vehicle license fees recalled Democratic governor Gray Davis from office and elected actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who remains the last Republican to have served as the state’s chief executive.