Jenner running for California governor
LOS ANGELES — Caitlyn Jenner’s decision Friday to enter the race for California governor injects a jolt of celebrity into a campaign to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom while raising questions about whether a political newcomer can lead the nation’s most populous state as it recovers from the pandemic.
Jenner — an Olympic hero, reality TV personality and longtime Republican — announced “I’m in” on Twitter, joining a growing list of candidates seeking to oust Newsom from office.
“For the past decade, we have seen the glimmer of the Golden State reduced by one-party rule that places politics over progress and special interests over people. Sacramento needs an honest leader with a clear vision,” Jenner said in a statement announcing her “Caitlyn for California” candidacy.
Newsom, a first-term Democrat, is facing a likely recall election this year, though officials still are reviewing petition signatures required to qualify the proposal for the ballot. County election officials are required to submit their final signature tallies to the state no later than next Thursday.
The race had failed to attract a nationally recognized contender before the entrance of the 71-yearold Jenner, who won the decathlon in the 1976 Summer Olympics and is widely known from shows “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”
and the spin-off “I Am Cait” that debuted after she came out as a transgender woman in 2015.
However, she is untested as a candidate and little is known about her positions on critical issues facing the state, from the coronavirus pandemic to managing the economy. She has ties to former President Donald Trump, who remains broadly unpopular in California outside his GOP base, as well as his former political operatives.
Jenner credits herself with advancing the movement for equality. But the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality California said it would oppose her candidacy, citing her ties to Trump and Republicans who have sought to undercut transgender rights around the nation.
She also has faced speculation that she’s entering politics to steer attention to her entertainment career.
Still, with her name recognition and ability to attract publicity, she could overshadow other GOP contenders, including former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, former U.S. Rep. Doug Ose and businessman John Cox, who lost badly to Newsom in the 2018 governor’s race.
Hours after Jenner announced she would run, Faulconer took a lightly veiled swipe at her lack of experience in government.
“I think I’m uniquely positioned in terms of somebody who has won elections and knows how to get results,” he told reporters.