Thank you all very much and thank you to 40 million Americans, 40 million Californians,

and thank you for rejecting this recall.

Good night, everybody.

Governor Gavin Newsom survives the closely watched recall election in California.

Now the question is, will the race be a model for next year's midterm elections? Plus, a bombshell revelation about President Trump's final days in office.

A top military advisor was reportedly so fearful Trump might launch an attack on China

that he made secret calls to his counterpart in Beijing.

The question is, have you heard what Mike Pence reportedly did during all of this?

We'll tell you just ahead. And some of Broadway's biggest shows reopen. Hamilton, Wicked,

The Lion King, and other big musicals resumed performances last night, 18 months after coronavirus

forced theaters to close. Broadway is back, but the question is, is it back to normal? It's way too early for this.

Good morning, and welcome to way too early, the show that has always been in the room

where it happens. I'm John Lamire on this Wednesday, September 15th.

We'll start with the news. California governor Gavin Newsome survived an attempt to remove him from office Tuesday, prevailing in the state's recall election, NBC News can project. The election

asked voters whether Newsom, a Democrat, should be removed, yes or no, and gave voters who wanted

him ousted the choice of 46 alternatives, led by Larry Elder,

a conservative talk radio host. With the help of party leaders, including President Biden in

the race's closing days, Newsom succeeded in rousing Democratic voters with warnings that a Republican

replacement would roll back COVID protections and betray the state's progressive character.

Last night, Newsom thanked California voters for keeping him in office.

We said yes to science. We said yes to vaccines.

We said yes to ending this pandemic.

...