At about 5:15 this morning, Gov. Gavin Newsom was about to take his seat to take his oath of office when the office clerk notified him that he had been recalled — or, more accurately, 49,782,676 Californians had voted to ask him to step down.

Democrat Gavin Newsom will be California’s first openly gay governor, according to a wide variety of websites and newspapers reporting on the election results. The Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Daily News, both among the more reliable sources on these matters, have said Mr. Newsom will be the state’s first openly gay governor.

He ran, and won, on a “Let’s Move California” platform aimed at encouraging residents to exercise the right to vote and see whether it had kept them from being disenfranchised by the state. The campaign was not without its critics: Some opponents argued that the campaign and a law enacted after it prohibits double-voting constituted a violation of free speech, and called for recalling Mr. Newsom as a protest of the campaign. Some opponents said the campaign was so liberal it was dangerous.

But Mr. Newsom, who as lieutenant governor was deputized by the governor to serve out the term of former Gov. Jerry Brown, is a Democrat. He was widely seen as the favorite to win the governor’s race, taking 49 percent of the vote, compared with Mr. Brown’s 44 percent.