California Governor Gavin Newsom appears to have survived a rare state-wide vote to remove him with a clear majority, US media report. Republicans launched the election over his handling of the pandemic.

The Democrat, currently in the third year of his four-year term, had faced a field of 46 candidates, and was expected to win by a large margin. Both President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris campaigned with Mr Newsom ahead of the contest. The BBC’s US partner CBS projects that the governor will prevail, with about two-thirds of voters backing him and more than 70% of the vote tallied. “I’m humbled and grateful to the millions and millions of Californians that exercised their fundamental right to vote,” Mr Newsom said in a victory speech in Sacramento.(BBC)…[+]