hannah waddingham with music from carly pearce. "nightline" is next. thanks for watching, or as they say in canada, thanks for watching. this is "nightline." >> tonight, the road to victory for gavin newsom. >> thank you for rejecting this recall. >> how the democratic governor of california survived a recall. inside the final days to the finish line. >> we lost the battle, but we are certainly going to win the war. >> from front runners to famous faces. what's now at stake for the future of the golden state. meet the four-legged guardian angels. raised and trained by a very unlikely group. >> how many of the women here have been convicted of a violent crime? basically everybody? >> given a second chance behind bars with the help of woman's

best friend. >> this isn't just about training a dog, these are training service dogs that save lives. and saying a final farewell to "snl" funny man norm macdonald. truthfully, it's frustrating to see how fast dust reappears. but dusting with a cloth is a pain. and dealing with a bulky vacuum.. . is such a hassle. uchhh!!! so now we use our swiffer sweeper and dusters. the fluffy fibers? they pick up dust easily. grabbing it in all those hard-to-reach places. gotcha!!! and for our floors, sweeper's textured cloths lock all kinds of dirt, dust and pet hair. unlike my vacuum, it sneaks under and around places. look at that!! dust free and hassle free. stop cleaning and start swiffering.

♪ thanks for joining us. tonight, breaking news as we come on the air this hour. democratic governor gavin newsom will keep his job.

abc news projecting "no" in the recall race. newsom fighting off 46 other candidates vying for his seat. now speaking just moments ago saying he's pleased with the results and redirecting the focus to what he says the state said "yes" to. >> appears we are enjoying an overwhelmingly "no" vote tonight here in the state of california. but no is not the only thing that was expressed tonight. i want to focus on what we said yes to as a state. we said yes to science. we said yes to vaccines. we said yes to ending this pandemic. we said yes to people's right to vote without fear of fake fraud or voter suppression. we said yes to all those things that we hold dear as californians, and i would argue, as americans. >> for more on the recall results we go to abc's zohreen shah reporting from sacramento, california, zohreen?

>> reporter: juju, newsom acknowledged his win, but he also talked about how divisive we are as a society right now. he said trumpism is not dead, perhaps foreshadowing the ballot for governor. but about this race, it didn't always look the way it did now. at moments it was incredibly close, but his team raised over $70 million. they brought out every big democrat that they could, including the president. and they painted his main opponent as being someone to the right of donald trump. now larry elder spoke just awhile ago, he conceded. he said, we have not won this battle, but we will win this war. the recall has been a fierce battle with the fate of california's political future. >> i just don't think gavin newsom is doing the job that he was elected to do. >> every governor across the country has had challenges. governor newsom stepped up. >> reporter: governor newsom came out in full force, ultimately convincing californians to let him keep his

job. >> this election is a matter of life and death, public health is on the ballot. >> reporter: campaigning with a handful of political heavyweights, including president joe biden. >> this is not hyperbole. the eyes of the nation are on california. >> reporter: and vice president kamala harris. >> let's be gracious. let's be gracious in defeat. >> reporter: his main challenger, larry elder, addressing supporters tonight, conceding defeat. >> we recognize that we lost the battle, but we are certainly going to win the war. >> reporter: six times attempting to oust him from office, this one gaining traction largely with dissatisfaction over his handling of the pandemic. >> this started as a backlash to the covid-19 restrictions. it gained steam when that photo went viral, when governor newsom was seen at one of the priciest and fanciest restaurants in the state of california, if not the country, seeming to flout his

own mandates. it smacked a lot of voters as rank hypocrisy. >> reporter: an astonishing 46 candidates vying to replace newsom, including former olympian caitlyn jenner, entertainer angelyne, and businessman john cox, who famously brought a 1,000-pound kodiak bear on the campaign trail with him. >> it's going to be tight, but we are going to win this election. >> reporter: volunteers from the political action committee "reform california" launched its final get out the vote push over the weekend in support of the recall. >> destroyed thousands of businesses. all you have to do is walk around any area and you'll see so many businesses shuttered. >> we want somebody who is interested in doing things for the people, not for themselves. >> the california recall election coming up tuesday -- >> reporter: carl dimaio is the organization's chairman. >> you can't have a strong america with a sick california. by every measure, california is facing major problems. we have surging crime, the highest taxes in the nation, our

jobs are leaving uuse of the mandates and regulations of this governor. >> reporter: preliminary exit polling gives a window into how newsom won. over all, 55% of voters approved of the way newsom is handling his job, and 3 in 10 said newsom's pandemic control measures are too strict. >> governor newsom has made amazing strides to get us back through the pandemic, done more than any other governor in order to stabilize our economy, to make investments in the future. we want to make sure we protect that progress in california. >> reporter: in carlsbad, san diego, volunteers with the local democratic party are confident the governor will beat back this recall effort. denouncing the $276 million election as a waste of taxpayer money. >> we have an official election coming up next year, why are we going through this sham recall? when the election is coming up in months, literally? >> we're seeing in other states an attempt by republicans to roll back voting rights, also to

roll back civil rights, like reproductive justice, things like that. we're going to protect that. that's at stake in this recall. >> what do you think it says about california, that you are leading the race right now in the opponent side? >> it says that californians are fed up. >> reporter: conservative talk radio host larry elder was the front-runner in the race to replace newsom and has been compared to former president donald trump. >> he's the clone of donald trump. can you imagine him being governor of this state? [ audience yelling no ] >> my path to victory is the fact that people are unhappy with the way this man is governing california the last two years, my path to victory is the homelessness, my path to victory is the rise in crime and the decline in the quality of public education. that's why he's in trouble. >> reporter: elder said one of the first things he would do as governor is repeal mask and vaccine mandates, but skirted

around the question of whether he would accept the election results. >> do you agree to accept the results of this election? >> i find it fascinating when people ask me that. no one asked my opponent did he agree with hillary when she refused to accept the results of the 2016 election? >> reporter: hillary clinton called then-candidate trump to concede in 2016. >> so many people are going to vote to recall this man, i don't think we're going to have to worry about the result of the election. >> i don't feel i have an answer from you but i want to keep moving on -- >> you feel you didn't get the answer you wanted. >> i don't know if you're going to accept the result. >> reporter: preemptively questioning california's results has become a pattern among some republicans, including former president trump. before ballots were counted he falsely alleged the election would be rigged. newsom today hit back against those claims. >> grow up, people. these people literally are vandalizing our democracy and trust in our institutions. >> reporter: a website launched

by elder's campaign already alleged fraud, demanding a special session of the california legislature to investigate the twisted results of the special election. that page has since been taken down. >> this looks like the new normal, abnormal as it is for democracy. you've got almost a mantra in the republican party that suggests that democrats cannot or are not winning elections legitimately. this is going to be something that resonates for quite a while in republican circles. >> reporter: among those who want governor newsom out of office, small business owners. >> hey, guys. >> reporter: angela marsden owns pineapple hill grill and saloon in sherman oaks. >> how are you doing? >> reporter: she believes newsom has failed small business owners across the state who struggled to keep afloat during california's numerous shutdowns. >> gavin newsom raised $80 million to beat us, to keep his job. why did gavin newsom not take the energy he had to raise money, to save their jobs? >> reporter: marsden says she's lost more than $500,000 worth of revenue due to the pandemic and fears more stringent covid

measures on small businesses if newsom remains in office. what happens to you and your business if he survives this? >> if he survives this, it means it's going to be a battle. a battle of survival. the mandates are going to come down, they're going to start fining businesses. i want to wake up and not have panic attacks, are we going to get shut down? it's going to be devastating. >> reporter: with the recall behind them, democrats hope they have the winning playbook for the next election. >> you're going to hear democrats talk about a potential template. they can stoke the fears of back sliding around covid and the fears of trump 2.0 to get their base energized. you're going to see other democrats try to mimic that playbook as much as they can in 2021, 2022, and beyond. >> reporter: for californians, there's a collective sigh of relief that this chaotic process is finally coming to an end. >> our thanks to zohreen. coming up, incarcerated and inspired by these four-legged guardian angels.

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♪ finding renewed purpose. you're about to meet a group of women behind bars in chowchilla, california, training dogs to be guardian angels with remarkable and life-changing ability, predicting epileptic seizures. how do they do it? here's abc's matt gutman. >> he really likes shoulder massages. >> reporter: 24-year-old natalie

tapio's lab dexter isn't her pet, he's her guardian. >> dexter is my service dog. he alerts to my seizures. >> reporter: natalie suffers from a form of epilepsy that can leave her physically frozen in place. dexter is a finely calibrated four-legged seizure monitor, so sensitive he warns natalie before a seizure is coming on. and he does that by tapping his paw on her leg. >> he will alert me, then dial a dog phone which has my parents' phone numbers on it. and then retrieves a pouch which will have any necessities for me, like medication, water, my cell phone. i'm going to pause for a second. he's alerting again. >> reporter: natalie received dexter through a program called "little angels service dogs," a nonprofit organization that trains dogs to work with people in need. surprisingly, those furry little angels are raised and largely trained at a central california women's facility, the second-largest female prison in

the u.s. their trainers -- >> how many of the women here have been convicted of a violent crime? basically everybody. >> reporter: the program is called p.u.p.s., pups uplifting prisoners' spirits. it's as much about rehabilitating those inmates as it is training their furry charges. >> it isn't about training a dog. these are training service dogs that save lives. >> reporter: amy davis, lead trainer the program, is serving a life sentence. >> i have done something that landed me in prison that was horrible. i participated in a robbery-murder. during that time i was in what i thought was a very unhealthy relationship. i was on drugs and i was very broken and lost. >> reporter: she says the p.u.p.s. program has restored her sense of self-worth. >> when an 8-week-old puppy was put in my arms, it was like every wall i put up to protect myself, every wall i thought i

had, it just melted. >> reporter: inmate annette packer likens it to having an infant. >> when you have that dog, it's like an umbilical cord. when you're feeling, they feel, especially when they're puppies. >> reporter: amber ingram is the lead trainer. she's been an inmate for ten years. >> i was convicted originally of child endangerment resulting in death for my 5-year-old son braden. sorry. later on, a couple of months later, i got charged with second-degree murder for not protecting him. >> reporter: her then-boyfriend, eduardo samora jr., had been violently abusing her son. >> i got a call from my boyfriend at the time, he basically said my son's not breathing. i said, "what did you do?" that was my initial reaction, "what did you do?" he had beaten my son to death. >> reporter: he was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 23 years to life in prison for the death of amber's son. >> you got convicted of second-degree murder? >> yes. so -- a parent is -- you're

supposed to protect your child. so -- because i didn't protect him, and i didn't leave, and i didn't speak up, and i didn't do that, they charged me with the actual second-degree murder. my punishment is me having to live with my son's death for the rest of my life. >> has the dog program helped you deal with the guilt and the shame? >> absolutely. i don't want anything bad to happen to this dog. if someone were to want to kick my dog, i'm jumping in front of it. i am super protective of what i do, in honor of my son braden, every single day. >> reporter: dana frumme is the program manager and representative here in the prison. in 2017 she brought the dogs to the facility, taking a chance on what was then a new initiative. what's more rewarding, seeing the change in the humans or the animals that are trained? >> when i got here, i realized these are women with stories.

and they're heart-wrenching stories. they were so open and honest, it changed me. i realized the dogs weren't just changing the recipients' lives, they were changing their lives. >> reporter: natalie's was one of those lives. a life irrevocable changed. before she got dexter, those seizures had robbed her of independence. >> the seizures were so unpredictable. and silent. usually. and so there always has to be someone very attentive, close by. my mom and i were basically inseparable. >> natalie was actually cooking bacon at the stove. and she had the pan in her hand, and she was frozen in a seizure. when i turned and looked -- i just went over there, you know, got the pan out of her hand, got her away from the stove. turned it off. >> reporter: lisa looked for a way that natalie could live a more normal life. she came across "little angels."

natalie was picked as a candidate and "little angels" started the process of conditioning dexter to predict her seizures. >> he was taught this alert game, which is a paw at the leg. and then when he got that game down was when it was time for us to send samples of my seizure scent. so whenever i had a seizure, to take some gauze and wipe the palms of my hands and the insides of my cheeks. with the gauze. and mail it to "little angels." he learned to associate the game with the scent. >> reporter: in 2018, the pair finally met. dexter's training was put to the test when he detected an oncoming seizure. >> we were all bawling. just so excited. like, you could just see, like, how different our lives were going to be.

>> people with epilepsy -- often have this constant -- kind of cloud over their head, or worry in the back of their mind. when will the next seizure happen? where will i be? what will i be doing? and i don't need to have that anymore. and so that's very freeing. >> our thanks to matt. up next, remembering "snl" great norm macdonald. >> hey, check out the party, look at this. >> mr. reynolds has apparently changed his name to "turd ferguson." >> yeah, that's right, turd ferguson, funny name.

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♪ finally tonight, stand up once again for norm macdonald. the "snl" legend used his dry wit to make people laugh.

from anchoring "weekend update" to starring as a character inspired by actor burt reynolds. >> it's funny because it's bigger than a normal hat. >> the comedian dying today after the privately battling cancer for nine years. norm macdonald was 61. rest in peace. that's "nightline." you can watch all of our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ ♪ my only sunshine... ♪ rybelsus® works differently than any other diabetes pill to lower blood sugar in all 3 of these ways... increases insulin when you need it... decreases sugar... and slows food.