As California wrestled with the recall election of Gov. Gavin Newsom, 15 Kerr County residents were among the more than 2,000 Texans to contribute financially to the failed effort to unseat the Democrat.

Newsom easily beat back the recall effort on Tuesday night with a landslide victory. The recall effort needed 1.5 million signatures to force a special election — costing the state's taxpayers an estimated $200 million or more.

However, contributions to the pro-recall and anti-recall camps raised nearly $100 million to fight each other. Texans sent more than $1 million to California — mostly to back the recall and Republican candidates to replace Newsom.

All told, 15 people from Kerrville sent $2,500 to support Republican candidate and radio talk show host Larry Elder, who was the frontrunner to replace Newsom if the recall succeeded. Debbie Oaks of Kerrville and Pamela Wood of Ingram sent $500 each to the Elder campaign.

Another Kerrville resident, Suzette Long, sent a series of small donations totaling $350 to a pro-recall committee.

The way the recall worked is that if 50%-plus-one of voters voted to recall Newsom, his replacement was from the top vote-getter among more than 40 candidates. In this case, Elder earned 46% of the replacement candidates, including Caitlyn Jenner.

However, the election was never close. The recall effort was easily defeated — 63%-36%.

Texas played a role in the messaging of the anti-recall forces. Where select Texans complain about "don't California my Texas," Californians opposed to the recall loudly used Texas as an example of what a potential Elder administration would resemble.

In the wake of the defeat, many anti-recall backers took to social media to suggest disgruntled Republicans, which account for only 23% of California's electorate, move to places like Texas if they didn't like the result.

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