They’re beginning to line as much as run for governor to interchange lame duck Gov. Gavin Newsom when his time period expires after 2026. Sure, already.
The primary in line Monday was Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, 57.
A couple of hours later, former state Controller Betty Yee, 65, mentioned she plans to run too.
They’re Democrats, after all — the one political kind who may be elected governor or U.S. senator in California today.
If Kounalakis, Yee or one other lady is elected, she’ll be California’s first feminine governor. There have been 40 governors over almost 173 years, and we’ve elected solely white males — on this, sarcastically, probably the most numerous state within the nation.
The subsequent gubernatorial election received’t be held for 3 years. Why begin working now?
It lays down a marker and dares rivals to leap in, maybe earlier than they’re prepared. It’s an try to announce your presence to voters who’ve solely a obscure notion of who you’re, if that. And it means that you can begin organizing a marketing campaign with out being too cute by forming a so-called exploratory committee. Simply shout it out in truth: “I’m working.”
Most of all, it lets you begin elevating the barrels of cash it requires to run a profitable race for governor in California, particularly for candidates with low identify recognition resembling Kounalakis and Yee. The price of residing in California is exorbitant, and so is campaigning for main workplace on this far-flung, multifarious state.
Kounalakis is California’s first feminine lieutenant governor.
She enters the gubernatorial race with three substantial property:
A formidable sounding title that features the important thing phrase “governor” and implies a place extra vital than it truly is. A boatload of household cash and entry to a potent donor listing that ensures she received’t run quick in a marketing campaign that can in all probability value greater than $100 million. Skilled information and expertise in dwelling constructing, qualities that the state authorities very a lot must sort out the curse of unaffordable housing in city California.
The lieutenant governor title is a large asset in a gubernatorial race. That mentioned, solely three sitting lieutenant governors have been elected California governor: Republican C.C. Younger in 1926, Democrat Grey Davis in 1998 and Newsom in 2018. So there must be cash, substance and a few attraction behind the title.
“In focus teams, folks couldn’t consider one single factor he’d completed as lieutenant governor as a result of they didn’t know,” South says. “However they’d remark, ‘He is aware of his means round as a result of he’s second in command.”
However, frankly, I assumed we’d hear extra from Kounalakis after she was elected, given her power, tenacity and feisty nature.
In December, I described her as “probably the most obscure lieutenant governor I’ve ever seen.”
In contrast, when Newsom was lieutenant governor, he was continually selling concepts, together with his personal financial progress plan for California. However that irritated Gov. Jerry Brown, who noticed it as upstaging. Kounalakis wished to get together with the governor.
OK, however why hasn’t Kounalakis weighed in on the way to construct extra housing in California and make it inexpensive?
Her father, Angelo Tsakopoulos, who as a teen migrated from Greece by himself nearly penniless to California, grew to become a extremely profitable, very rich housing developer round Sacramento. Kounalakis grew to become president of the large household firm.
I’d suppose that information of inexpensive home-building would discover a robust attraction amongst California voters.
Different potential contenders apart from Yee embody Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and U.S. Secretary of Well being and Human Companies Xavier Becerra. One other long-shot risk is San Francisco Mayor London Breed. Additionally, it’s conceivable if both Rep. Adam B. Schiff of Burbank or Rep. Katie Porter of Irvine loses subsequent 12 months’s U.S. Senate race, they could run for governor.
No matter. The early odds are that the forty first California governor received’t be one other white male.
George Skelton is a Los Angeles Instances columnist.
