The decision by voters Tuesday to remove an Orange County state senator targeted for raising the state’s gas tax could be a harbinger for the fall campaign when critics of the tax hike push their repeal effort to the statewide ballot.

Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), who was midway through his four-year term, was recalled from office Tuesday by 59.5% of the voters in his district, which includes parts of Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

Republican leaders behind the recall measure said Wednesday that the ouster of Newman provides momentum to repeal the gas tax in a constitutional amendment proposed for the November ballot. And that, they predict, will turn out more conservative voters to the benefit of their candidates for Congress and the state Legislature.

“It bodes very well for us to pull off the repeal,” said Carl DeMaio, chairman of Reform California and a leader of the recall effort. “It shows that there is a taxpayer revolt brewing in California that is seeing through the millions of dollars of misleading ads from Sacramento special interests.”

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