Gay lawmaker joins Grindr to campaign against recall of California Gov. Gavin Newsom

A California lawmaker has joined a popular gay dating app to campaign against a recall election seeking to remove Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“I’ve joined Grindr,” Evan Low, a Democrat assemblyman representing Silicon Valley, shared on social media last week.

“Let’s chat about voting ‘NO’ on the Republican Recall! California deserves better,” the 38-year-old who was first elected in 2014, wrote — adding a heart and a Pride flag emoji, and the hashtags #NoOnTheRecall and #VoteNoOnRecall.

Low also shared a screenshot of his Grindr profile picture — standing next to Newsom — and a short bio, using the handle VoteNoOnRecall.

“Hello beautiful!” he wrote. “I’m on here to urge you to VOTE NO on the Republican Recall! Governor Gavin Newsom has consistently stood for equality and our LGBTQ community. Now let us all be there for him.”

Grindr is a location-based social networking and dating application that uses members’ GPS positions to chat with people nearby. Since it launched in 2009, the app became massively popular among gay and bisexual men in the U.S. and abroad.

As of December 2020, it had nearly 13 million monthly users worldwide.

Low, who serves as the chair for the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, was criticized by some on social media for using the app as a campaigning tool.

“@Grindr, isn’t this a violation of your terms and services? This is solicitation and an abuse of your platform in an attempt to interfere in an election,” twitter user @fromthebrige7 wrote.

“Oh yeah I do now wish to chat on grindr,” wrote @jclay1914.

Other users, including @tweetMalena, applauded Low’s “awesome idea.”

A user named John Patrick Hanna, replied with a common term used on Grindr chats: “Looking...to vote no on the recall.”

Nearly 50 candidates — including nine Democrats and 24 Republicans — are running in the election, which will take place on Sept. 14.

Voters will be asked to answer two questions: Whether Newsom should be recalled from the office of governor, and who should succeed him if he is recalled.

If a majority of voters say yes to the first question, the governor will be recalled. The candidate with the most votes on the second question would then win the election, with no majority required.

Since 1911, there have been 55 attempts to recall a governor in California.

The only successful recall campaign was in October 2003 when 55.4% of voters were in favor of the recall of then-Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, was elected as his replacement with 48.6% of the vote, according to the California Secretary of State.