Caitlyn Jenner Announces Run for California Governor

Caitlyn Jenner said Friday 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 — announced in a 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 recall for the ballot.

Jenner, a Republican, will join several other GOP candidates who have recently thrown their hats in the ring to replace Newsom.

In a statement, Jenner called herself “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.”

The 71-year-old celebrity activist immediately stands out in a growing field that so far has failed to attract a nationally recognized contender. However, Jenner 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.

With her fame and ability to attract publicity, she threatens to overshadow other GOP contenders.

It was notable that her announcement did not include a video, a common element 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.

In a People magazine interview last year, Jenner described herself as “economically conservative, socially progressive.”

In her statement on Friday, she said she was a “compassionate disrupter.”

Her run would come nearly two decades after the ascendancy of Arnold Schwarzenegger, another Republican who used his Hollywood fame as a springboard to California’s highest office in a 2003 recall election.

If the recall qualifies for the ballot, as is expected within days, voters would be asked two questions: first, whether Newsom should be removed from office. The second would be a list of replacement candidates to choose from, if more than 50% of voters support removing Newsom from office.

The effort has largely been fueled by criticism of Newsom’s handling of the pandemic, which shuttered schools and closed thousands of businesses.