California Recall Election, October 7, 2003: Schwarzenegger Wins

California voters recalled Governor Gray Davis on Tuesday, October 7, 2003, and chose Arnold Schwarzenegger, the action-movie actor, to replace him. The recall passed with 55.4 percent of the vote, and Schwarzenegger won 48.6 percent on a replacement ballot crowded with 135 candidates. Davis became the first governor in California history to be recalled and only the second in the nation’s history.

Why Californians Turned on Gray Davis

Davis, a Democrat, had won a second term on November 5, 2002, with 3,533,490 votes, or 47.3 percent, to 42.4 percent for Republican Bill Simon. His troubles had started earlier. Critics blamed him for his handling of the state’s 2000-2001 electricity crisis, and by 2003 California faced a record budget deficit estimated at $38.2 billion. Then the state’s vehicle license fee, the annual charge drivers pay to register their cars, tripled.

California law allows voters to remove a statewide official by petition. Organizers needed at least 897,156 valid signatures, a number tied to turnout in the November 2002 governor’s race. The drive gained momentum when Republican Representative Darrell Issa put $1.7 million of his own money into advertising and paid signature gatherers. Proponents turned in about 1.66 million signatures, and on July 23, 2003, the secretary of state certified that enough were valid.

How the Recall Ballot Worked

The October 7 ballot had two parts. The first asked a yes-or-no question: “Shall Gray Davis be recalled (removed) from the office of Governor?” The second listed replacement candidates. If the recall passed, whoever won the most votes on the second question would become governor, even without a majority.

In all, 135 candidates qualified. The list included serious politicians and celebrities alike: Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, a Democrat; state Senator Tom McClintock, a Republican; commentator Arianna Huffington; Green Party candidate Peter Camejo; and actor Gary Coleman.

Schwarzenegger Enters the Race

The race changed on Wednesday, August 6, 2003, when Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy during a taping of NBC’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Advisers had signaled in the days before that he was leaning against running, so the announcement came as a surprise. He told reporters he would “clean house” in Sacramento. Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, another Republican who had been considering the race, then decided not to run.

The campaign also faced a legal challenge. On September 15, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the election postponed because six counties still used punch-card voting machines, which plaintiffs argued would disenfranchise voters. On September 23, an 11-judge panel of the same court reversed that decision, and the election went ahead on its original date.

Timeline of the 2003 Recall

Date	Event
November 5, 2002	Davis wins reelection
July 23, 2003	Recall petition signatures certified
August 6, 2003	Schwarzenegger announces his candidacy on the Tonight Show
September 15, 2003	Ninth Circuit panel orders the election postponed
September 23, 2003	Full Ninth Circuit panel reinstates the October 7 date
October 7, 2003	Voters recall Davis and elect Schwarzenegger
November 14, 2003	Results certified by the secretary of state
November 17, 2003	Schwarzenegger sworn in

The Results on October 7, 2003

Turnout reached 61.2 percent of the state’s 15.4 million registered voters, with more than 9.4 million ballots cast. Secretary of State Kevin Shelley certified the official results on November 14, 2003.

Question	Result
Recall Davis: Yes	4,976,274 (55.39%)
Recall Davis: No	4,007,783 (44.61%)
Arnold Schwarzenegger (R)	4,206,284 (48.58%)
Cruz Bustamante (D)	2,724,874 (31.47%)
Tom McClintock (R)	1,161,287 (13.41%)

Schwarzenegger’s total on the replacement question was not far below the number of voters who supported the recall itself, and it was larger than the vote Davis had received when he won reelection the previous November.

Governor Schwarzenegger’s First Day

Schwarzenegger was sworn in as California’s 38th governor on Monday, November 17, 2003, on the steps of the Capitol in Sacramento, with Chief Justice Ronald George administering the oath. Within minutes he walked into the Capitol and, at 12:07 p.m., signed an executive order repealing the vehicle license fee increase, a roughly $4 billion change that had fueled much of the recall. The order said the Davis administration “was in error” to trigger the increase, and drivers who had paid the higher fee were promised refunds by mail. He also suspended proposed state regulations for 180 days.

The Recall’s Legacy

The recall moved quickly once it qualified. From certification on July 23 to election day took 76 days, a span you can check with the days-between-dates calculator. It also fell outside the normal November Election Day schedule, as special elections often do.

California voters faced the question again on September 14, 2021, when Governor Gavin Newsom survived a recall with about 61.9 percent voting no; the 2021 calendar shows that date. For the 2003 race in its year, see the full 2003 calendar.