Caitlyn Jenner Announces Run For California Governor
Caitlyn Jenner has announced her bid to replace California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom in an expected recall election later this year. Newsom has had a tumultuous time during his first term in office and enough signatories have signed on to force a recall election.
The 71-year-old, transgender rights activist, former Olympian and reality star, announced her intentions to run in the likely recall election via Twitter overnight- saying “I’m in” in a lengthy statement.
I’m in! California is worth fighting for. Visit https://t.co/a1SfOAMZQ3 to follow or donate today. #RecallNewsom pic.twitter.com/9yCck3KK4D
— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) April 23, 2021
“California has been my home for nearly 50 years” Jenner’s statement continued to read “I came here because I knew that anyone, regardless of their background or station in life, could turn their dreams into reality. But for the past decade, we have the seen the glimmer of the Golden State reduced by one-party rule that places politics over progress and special interests over people.”
And though election officials are still reviewing petition signatures, only 1,495,709 valid signatures are needed to bring about a recall election and recall proponents have already collected 2.1 million signatures.
Jenner would not be the first Hollywood heavy weight to use their considerable profile to stake a claim to the state’s top political position. Arnold Schwarzenegger, another Republican had successfully done the same thing in the 2003 recall election.
Jenner’s ties and more notably her vocal support of Trump could however prove to be her undoing in California, which has continuedly voted in the majority for the Democrats in every presidential election since 1992.
https://twitter.com/Frances_Larina/status/1386143675562938368
Despite Jenner having voted for Trump in 2016, she later retracted her support, and came out swinging in an opinion piece for The Washington Post in which she expressed her previous hopes of working with the Trump administration to better support the needs and rights of transgender Americans had been dashed.
“Sadly, I was wrong. The reality is that the trans community is being relentlessly attacked by this President. He has ignored our humanity. He has insulted our dignity. He has made trans people into political pawns as he whips up animus against us in an attempt to energise the most right-wing segment of his party,” said Jenner.
Little is known about what policies Jenner intends to hinge her campaign upon, but already LGBTQI advocacy groups such as group Equality California have said that due to her previous support of Trump it would oppose her candidacy in its entirety.
https://twitter.com/Frances_Larina/status/1386143675562938368
Across America, transgender politicians have and continue to be in increasing numbers, elected to office, though if Jenner is successful in her campaign, it would be one of the most prominent victories in history- allowing her to be the first transgender head of a state government in the United States.
