Aisha Wahab recall, California State Senate (2023-2024)
| Sen. Aisha Wahab recall |
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| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| Signature requirement |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2024 Recalls in California California recall laws State legislative recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Aisha Wahab, a member of the Democratic Party, from her elected position representing District 10 in the California State Senate was approved for circulation by the secretary of state's office on December 15, 2023. Supporters of the recall had 160 days—or no later than May 23, 2024—to collect 42,802 signatures to require a recall election.[1] No signatures were submitted by the deadline.[2]
Wahab was elected to the state Senate in 2022. She defeated Lily Mei (D) in the general election with 54% of the vote.
Recall supporters
The recall against Wahab was filed by Ashish Gawarikar and 545 others.[3] Ritesh Tandon, a 2024 U.S. House candidate, was one of the organizers of the recall.[4] The Recall Wahab website listed the following reasons for recall:[5]
| “ |
Aisha Wahab is an American politician who has been a member of the California State Senate from the 10th district since 2022. She ran a close race against fellow Democrat Lily Mei and was trailing until her team built a highly negative campaign targeting Lily Mei leading to a win by about 15000 plus votes. Today, however those who voted for Wahab are highly critical of her bills that are not just distracting from real issues but also harmful for California. State senator Aisha Wahab has irked Californians and emerged as a newbie political leader who appears to be working on an agenda far removed from the welfare of her constituents, or worse still is authoring badly drafted bills that may inflict long term harm to the citizens of California for generations to come. Our investigation finds that her unpopularity is only growing as seen in the pushback against four recent bills introduced by her. Besides bad bills, Senator Wahab has been called out in the past for her negligence in her role as chairperson of the Public Safety Commission. Some of these examples include,
After her authorship of the controversial caste bill SB403 faced tremendous opposition from the Indian American, Sikh, and Hindu voices, the campaign to RECALL WAHAB has picked up steam. It has momentum because Senator Wahab has been associated with other disastrous and unpopular bills and because she has failed to effectively represent her constituents. The recall is spearheaded by a coalition of individuals from various backgrounds and ethnicities, including Vietnamese, Chinese, Latino, Indian, and Afghan supporters. Interestingly, the core group leading the recall effort consists of Fremont residents who had initially supported Aisha Wahab during her election. The recall is based on her “nonperformance” on the job. Senator Wahab, as the chair of the Public Safety Commission in the California Senate, has displayed a concerning lack of action in response to escalating crime rates. Her absence and lack of accountability are evidenced in her failure to respond to the significant threats that pose a serious risk to the safety of her constituents. Despite the urgency of the situation, Senator Wahab has not taken any meaningful steps to address these issues or provide a response to concerns raised by the public.[6] |
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Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in California
The California Constitution gives citizens the right to recall state and local officials. To recall a state official, proponents must first file a notice of recall with the California Secretary of State. This notice must have the same number of signatures that are required to file to run for the office that is targeted in the recall. Proponents must also notify the official they seek to recall of their intent.
Once the filing has been completed, proponents have 160 days to circulate the recall petition and gather the necessary signatures to trigger an election. For state legislators, proponents must gather the number of signatures equal to 20 percent of the total votes cast in the last election for the office. County officials certify the number of signatures collected and submit the results to the secretary of state. If the number of signatures is sufficient, the secretary of state submits the results to the governor. The governor publishes a notice for a recall election within 60 to 80 days, provided that there are at least 180 days before the next regularly scheduled election in the jurisdiction. If there are less than 180 days before the next regularly scheduled election, the recall election will be consolidated with the scheduled election.[7]
Ballots in the recall election have two components. The first component asks whether or not the official should be recalled. The second component allows voters to select a candidate from a list of replacement candidates. If a majority of voters agree to recall the official, then the replacement candidate with the most votes wins the office. Voters can select a replacement candidate even if they voted against recalling the incumbent.
Supporters of the recall needed to collect approximately 42,802 valid signatures by May 23, 2024, to force a recall election. No signatures were submitted by the deadline.
Election history
2022
See also: California State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for California State Senate District 10
Aisha Wahab defeated Lily Mei in the general election for California State Senate District 10 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Aisha Wahab (D)  | 53.7 | 114,997 |
 | Lily Mei (D) | 46.3 | 99,011 | |
| Total votes: 214,008 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for California State Senate District 10
The following candidates ran in the primary for California State Senate District 10 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Lily Mei (D) | 33.1 | 47,149 |
| ✔ | | Aisha Wahab (D) | 30.0 | 42,731 |
| Paul Pimentel (R) | 21.6 | 30,742 | ||
 | Jamal Khan (D) | 7.3 | 10,424 | |
 | Raymond Liu (D) | 4.9 | 6,932 | |
 | Jim Canova (D) | 3.1 | 4,391 | |
| Total votes: 142,369 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Jaime Zepeda (D)
Historical state legislative recalls
Ballotpedia tracked 157 recall efforts against 148 state lawmakers from 1913 to 2022. During that time, 39 recalls made the ballot and 22 state legislators were successfully recalled.[8]
Michigan led the way with 37 state legislative recall efforts from 1913 to 2022. Of those 37 recall efforts, three were successful. Wisconsin followed with 30 state legislative recall efforts. Six of those recalls were successful.
Recall context
- See also: Ballotpedia's Recall Report
Ballotpedia covers recall efforts across the country for all state and local elected offices. A recall effort is considered official if the petitioning party has filed an official form, such as a notice of intent to recall, with the relevant election agency.
The chart below shows how many officials were included in recall efforts from 2012 to 2024 as well as how many of them defeated recall elections to stay in office and how many were removed from office in recall elections.
See also
- Recall campaigns in California
- Political recall efforts, 2023
- Political recall efforts, 2024
- State legislative recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Recall of District 10 State Senator Aisha Wahab: Calendar of Events," accessed December 20, 2023
- ↑ The Recall Elections Blog, "California: State Senate recall fails," May 26, 2024
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Current Recall Efforts," accessed December 20, 2023
- ↑ PoliticoPro, "California secretary of state certifies petition to recall state Sen. Wahab," December 18, 2023
- ↑ Recall Wahab, "Controversial Bills Authored by Senator Wahab," accessed December 20, 2023
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Procedure for Recalling State and Local Officials," accessed May 4, 2017
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "Recall of State Officials," accessed August 13, 2021
