GOP candidate served with court order during gubernatorial debate

Incident occurred as candidates were doing introductions

John Cox, a Republican running for governor in California, is served with a court order during a debate. (Twitter: Melody Gutierrez)

A GOP candidate for governor in California faced an awkward moment when he was served with court papers right at the beginning of a televised debate.

The Sacramento Bee reported that a private investigator on Tuesday served John Cox, one of the Republicans running in the hopes of ousting Gov Gavin Newsom in a recall election, with a court order directing him to pay tens of thousands of dollars to a consulting firm over a pay dispute.

Mr Cox will be forced to pay roughly $100,000 to the agency, Sandler-Innocenzi, which worked on Mr Cox’s failed 2018 bid for office. He previously contested that total in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.

According to the Bee, Mr Cox was served with the papers just as his introduction to the audience began; the private investigator, identified as Aman Choudhry of Choudhry Investigative Services, shouted that Mr Cox “had been served” over his remarks.

The investigator told the newspaper that Mr Cox had been avoiding the paperwork for some time.

“Mr Cox has been avoiding service and is ordered to appear in San Diego Superior Court regarding this case,” Mr Choudhry said. “He’s been ducking and dodging courts and not showing up. He thinks he’s above the law.”

Mr Newsom faces a recall effort launched last year in response to the restrictions he placed on Californians’ daily lives to battle the Covid-19 pandemic, as well has his own flouting of those guidelines by attending a crowded birthday dinner at a prestigious restaurant last fall.

The election is set to take place next month. Mr Newsom will face a simple up-or-down vote as to whether he should be recalled. If it passes, a second vote for the individual GOP candidates running to replace him will be triggered.

A FiveThirtyEight analysis of polling from the race as of Wednesday indicated that Mr Newsom is just barely favored to hold on to his seat.