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OAKLAND — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is enlisting national Democratic star power to fight a looming recall vote by launching an ad Wednesday featuring Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

The Warren-starring spot is hitting the airwaves three weeks before ballots start landing in California voters’ mailboxes. The Massachusetts progressive warns that “Trump Republicans” who have been “attacking election results and the right to vote” are “coming to grab power in California,” before urging Californians to stymie conservatives by voting against the recall.

“Vote ‘no’ to protect California and our democracy,” Warren says.

This is not the first time Warren has played a public role in the anti-recall campaign. She has condemned it on social media and signed fundraising missives from the Newsom campaign.

But Warren’s appearance in a homestretch spot both demonstrates the recall’s national dimensions and underscores the risk to Newsom that unenthusiastic Democrats will not vote.

Republicans are far more motivated to participate in the recall election, which could help them surmount registration and fundraising disadvantages. A new Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies/Los Angeles Times poll on Tuesday found that the recall is virtually tied among the voters most likely to turn out — a slice of the electorate that is more Republican than California’s overall, Democratic-dominated voting population.

That increases the urgency for Newsom to turn out his base and cut through complacency among Democrats who are confident the recall will fail. In the new advertisement, Warren specifically tells voters they will receive ballots in the mail.

Newsom immediately telegraphed the peril in a Wednesday email to supporters highlighting the tight polling.

“Let us be very direct and very honest: if we do not have the resources we need to turn out our voters, we could lose this recall,” a fundraising email warned.

Recall ballots contain two questions: whether to recall Newsom, and with whom he should be replaced. If a majority votes to keep Newsom on the first question the results of the second are moot.

The Berkeley/Los Angeles Times poll found that conservative talk show host Larry Elder is leading the replacement candidate field with 18 percent support, followed by former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and 2018 gubernatorial candidate John Cox, who each have 10 percent.