Daniel Watts
Daniel Watts (Democratic Party) ran for election for Governor of California. He lost in the recall election on September 14, 2021.
Watts completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Daniel Watts was born in California. He earned his Bachelor's degree from the University of California, San Diego in 2006 and graduated from the University of California, Davis School of Law in 2011. Watts' professional experience includes working as a free speech attorney.[1]
Elections
2021
Gavin Newsom yes/no recall question
Gavin Newsom recall, 2021
Gavin Newsom won the Governor of California recall election on September 14, 2021.
Recall Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
Yes |
38.1
|
4,894,473 | |||
| ✔ | No |
61.9
|
7,944,092 | ||
Total Votes |
12,838,565 | ||||
|
|
Gavin Newsom replacement question
The ordering on the candidate list below does not reflect the order in which candidates will appear on the recall ballot. Click here to read Ballotpedia's policy on ordering candidate lists.
General election
Special general election for Governor of California
The following candidates ran in the special general election for Governor of California on September 14, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
 | Larry Elder (R) | 48.4 | 3,563,867 | |
 | Kevin Paffrath (D)  | 9.6 | 706,778 | |
 | Kevin Faulconer (R) | 8.0 | 590,346 | |
 | Brandon Ross (D) | 5.3 | 392,029 | |
 | John Cox (R) | 4.1 | 305,095 | |
 | Kevin Kiley (R) | 3.5 | 255,490 | |
 | Jacqueline McGowan (D) | 2.9 | 214,242 | |
 | Joel Ventresca (D) | 2.5 | 186,345 | |
 | Daniel Watts (D) | 2.3 | 167,355 | |
 | Holly Baade (D) | 1.3 | 92,218 | |
 | Patrick Kilpatrick (D) | 1.2 | 86,617 | |
 | Armando Perez-Serrato (D) | 1.2 | 85,061 | |
 | Caitlyn Jenner (R) | 1.0 | 75,215 | |
 | John Drake (D) | 0.9 | 68,545 | |
 | Daniel Kapelovitz (G) | 0.9 | 64,375 | |
 | Jeff Hewitt (L) | 0.7 | 50,378 | |
 | Ted Gaines (R) | 0.7 | 47,937 | |
 | Angelyne (No party preference) | 0.5 | 35,900 | |
 | David Moore (No party preference) | 0.4 | 31,224 | |
 | Anthony Trimino (R) | 0.4 | 28,101 | |
 | Doug Ose (R) (Unofficially withdrew) | 0.4 | 26,204 | |
 | Michael Loebs (No party preference) | 0.3 | 25,468 | |
 | Heather Collins (G) | 0.3 | 24,260 | |
 | Major Singh (No party preference) | 0.3 | 21,394 | |
 | David Lozano (R) | 0.3 | 19,945 | |
 | Denver Stoner (R) | 0.3 | 19,588 | |
 | Samuel Gallucci (R) | 0.2 | 18,134 | |
 | Steven Chavez Lodge (R) | 0.2 | 17,435 | |
 | Jenny Rae Le Roux (R) | 0.2 | 16,032 | |
 | David Bramante (R) | 0.2 | 11,501 | |
 | Diego Martinez (R) | 0.1 | 10,860 | |
 | Robert Newman (R) | 0.1 | 10,602 | |
 | Sarah Stephens (R) | 0.1 | 10,583 | |
 | Dennis Richter (No party preference) | 0.1 | 10,468 | |
 | Major Williams (R) (Write-in) | 0.1 | 8,965 | |
 | Denis Lucey (No party preference) | 0.1 | 8,182 | |
 | James Hanink (No party preference) | 0.1 | 7,193 | |
 | Daniel Mercuri (R) | 0.1 | 7,110 | |
 | Chauncey Killens (R) | 0.1 | 6,879 | |
 | Leo Zacky (R) | 0.1 | 6,099 | |
 | Kevin Kaul (No party preference) | 0.1 | 5,600 | |
 | David Hillberg (R) | 0.1 | 4,435 | |
 | Adam Papagan (No party preference) | 0.1 | 4,021 | |
 | Rhonda Furin (R) | 0.1 | 3,964 | |
 | Nickolas Wildstar (R) | 0.1 | 3,811 | |
 | Jeremiah Marciniak (No party preference) | 0.0 | 2,894 | |
 | Joe Symmon (R) | 0.0 | 2,397 | |
| Miki Habryn (No party preference) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 137 | ||
| Roxanne (D) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 116 | ||
| Stacy Smith (D) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 81 | ||
| Vivek Mohan (No party preference) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 68 | ||
| Thuy Hugens (American Independent Party of California) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 19 | ||
| Vince Lundgren (No party preference) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 5 | ||
| Total votes: 7,361,568 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Karen Blake (R)
- Mariana Dawson (No party preference)
- Veronika Fimbres (G)
- Elizabeth Floyd (No party preference)
- Wayne Frazier (R)
- Timothy Herode (R)
- Luis Huang (D)
- Jimih Jones (R)
- Paul Mesrop Kurdian (No party preference)
- Carla Canada (No party preference)
- Mary Cook (No party preference)
- Torr Leonard (D)
- Jeremy Lupoli (D)
- Louis J. Marinelli, III (R)
- Christopher Mason (R)
- John Pierce (R)
- Patrick Rakus Jr. (R)
- Frank Wade (D)
- Marc Roth (No party preference)
- Christopher Carlson (G)
- Douglas Deitch (D)
- Bryan Farley (D)
- Justin Hubbard (R)
- Jason Dixon (D)
- Sean Harrison (R)
- Ronald Palmieri (D)
- Ben Zandpour (No party preference)
- Robert Davidson Griffis (D)
- A. Shantz (G)
- Adam Hadjinian (No party preference)
- Michael Lynn Gabriel (No party preference)
- Hilaire Shioura (No party preference)
- Lee Olson (No party preference)
- Joseph Luciano (R)
- Steven Fitzgerald (R)
- Anthony Fanara (D)
- Jemiss Nazar (No party preference)
- Kevin Abushi (R)
- Joseph Amey (American Independent Party of California)
Campaign themes
2021
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Daniel Watts completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Watts' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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For 15 years, clients have trusted me to protect their First Amendment rights. As a First Amendment attorney, I've litigated anti-SLAPP motions up to the California Supreme Court and back. In fact, I became a lawyer for that very reason: To protect First Amendment rights, especially the rights of students.
Here’s the Governor Watts promise: Every public college in California that reviews its student conduct code and eliminates policies that violate the First Amendment should be tuition free. Every public college needs to obey the First Amendment anyway, but those that actually do it immediately will become tuition-free, giving them a competitive advantage over their speech-restrictive brethren. For just one-tenth of this year's budget surplus, every state college could be 100% tuition free. We can do it, and we should do it.
That's what I'd do on day one as governor. That's what Governor Newsom should do today.- Free speech. There's a free speech crisis on California's public college campuses. People don't respect, understand, or value the First Amendment. They should.
- Free college. For 10% of this year's budget surplus, every college could be 100% tuition free for in-state residents. That'll attract incredible talent to California.
- Supporting good government.
California’s state constitution and state laws are even more protective of free speech than the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but you wouldn’t know it from the way our public schools treat their students. Students’ First Amendment rights are under assault on California’s campuses.
Just one example: Koala v. Khosla.
In Koala v. Khosla, the UC San Diego Chancellor and its student government spent over $800,000 fighting to quash the free speech rights of a student-run newspaper. Why? Because they didn’t like one of its articles, which mocked “safe spaces.” The student newspaper had been receiving $400 a year in annual student activity fees, but UCSD thought it was wise to spend $800,000 in a futile effort to deprive them of that money.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2021 Elections
External links
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Candidate Governor of California |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on August 23, 2021
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