Caitlyn Jenner Announces Run For California Governor: 'I'm In!'
The former Olympian, TV personality, and transgender activist has officially launched her bid for governor
Caitlyn Jenner is no stranger to politics. She’s not only been an outspoken transgender rights advocate, fighting for transgender rights and promoting equality since she came out as a transgender woman in 2015, but Jenner also briefly considered running for U.S. Senate in California a few years back. Now, the Republican former Olympian has announced she’s moving forward with plans to run for California governor.
“I’m in!” Jenner writes on Twitter. “California is worth fighting for.”
In the press release announcing her run for governor, Jenner writes that she’s called the state of California her home for nearly 50 years and that, for the past decade, she’s 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,” she says.
According to Jenner’s website, her “Caitlyn for California” campaign will be powered by “everyday Californians who deserve leadership that is accountable to them, not the special interests in Sacramento.”
Jenner continues to say that Californians face a “now or never” opportunity to fix the state “before it’s too late.”
“Taking on entrenched Sacramento politicians and the special interests that fund them requires a fighter who isn’t afraid to do what is right,” she says. “I am a proven winner and the only outsider who can put an end to Gavin Newsom’s disastrous time as governor.”
According to The New York Times, Newsom, who is a democrat, has come under attack for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, thus leading to an uncertain recall election — one that’s supported by republicans and other backers who amassed the more than 1.5 million signatures needed to trigger a recall election. And if it does happen, it’ll likely happen sometime in the fall.
“Small businesses have been devastated because of the over-restrictive lockdown,” Jenner writes. “An entire generation of children have lost a year of education and have been prevented from going back to school, participating in activities, or socializing with their friends. Taxes are too high, killing jobs, hurting families, and putting an especially heavy burden on our most vulnerable people. This isn’t the California we know. This is Gavin Newsom’s California, where he orders us to stay home but goes out to dinner with his lobbyist friends.”
Of course, Jenner would be far from the first celebrity to run for office in California. Here, voters have elected Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan. But whether the recall will happen remains uncertain, as just 40 percent of the state’s voters stated in a recent poll that they would support it.
According to Axios, Jenner assembled a team of prominent GOP operatives, as well as former Trump’s former campaign manager, and Trump White House and campaign communications hand Steven Cheung, who worked on Schwarzenegger’s 2003 recall campaign.
However, according to a campaign adviser, Jenner is “running as someone that’s socially liberal and fiscally conservative.”
Twitter’s not for it.
“The significant of this decision is not lost on me,” Jenner writes. “The sacrifice is significant, but responsibility is great, and I can’t wait to lead, to help and most importantly to disrupt the status quo once again.”
