Celebrity Jenner joining California governor race
Ties to Trump may offset high recognition
LOS ANGELES – Republican Caitlyn Jenner said Friday that she will run for governor of California, injecting a jolt of celebrity into an emerging campaign that threatens to oust Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom from office.
Jenner – an Olympic hero, reality TV personality and transgender rights activist – said in statement posted on Twitter and on an accompanying website that she has filed initial paperwork to run for the post.
Newsom, a first-term Democrat, is facing a likely recall election this year, though officials are still reviewing petition signatures required to qualify the proposal for the ballot. Several other Republicans also have announced plans to run.
The race had failed to attract a nationally recognized contender before the entrance of 71-year-old Jenner, who is widely known from shows “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” and the spin-off “I Am Cait.”
She brings an abundance of questions about her ability to potentially lead the nation’s most populous state at a time of crisis and has faced speculation that she’s entering politics to steer attention to her entertainment career.
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.
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 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.
“I think I’m uniquely positioned in terms of somebody who has won elections and knows how to get results,” he told reporters.
In a statement, Jenner called herself an outsider and “a proven winner” and the only candidate “who can put an end to Gavin Newsom’s disastrous time as governor.”
“I’m in,” she wrote on her website. “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.”
It was notable that her announcement did not include a video, which is commonplace in political campaign kickoffs. Instead, in her written statement, she referred only vaguely to cutting taxes, a “roadmap back to prosperity” and taking on special interests.
Her campaign did not respond to a request for an on-camera interview.