Less than two years after California Governor Gavin Newsom’s overwhelming election victory, more than two million Californians signed on to a recall effort, hoping to expel him from office in a special election. This book explains that paradox and, in the process, enlightens readers about the recall process, the challenges of federalism, and the pitfalls of direct democracy. It examines the underlying conditions that expose a state with poorly linked institutions, a bitterly divided society, and a governor who had to act under nearly impossible conditions, demonstrating his strengths and vulnerabilities along the way.