At a time when transgender rights have become the new culture war in American politics, Republican Olympian-turned-celebrity Caitlyn Jenner announced a historic campaign Friday to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom in the recall election.
“As Californias, we face a now-or-never opportunity to fundamentally fix our state before its too late,” Jenner, 71, wrote on Twitter. “Taking on entrenched Sacramento politicians and the special interests that fund them requires a fighter who isn’t afraid to do what is right. I am a proven winner and the only outsider who can put an end to Gavin Newsom’s disastrous time as governor.”
The move comes as vocal segments of her party are pushing dozens of bills to curtail rights for transgender people across the nation.
The effort to recall Newsom is expected to qualify for the ballot soon, with an election in the fall. Other Republicans who are running include former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, former Rep. Doug Ose and businessman John Cox.
Though transgender politicians have been elected to office in recent years, notably Democrats Delaware State Sen. Sarah McBride in 2020 and Virginia Del. Danica Roem in 2017, Jenner is the most prominent to try, as she seeks one of the most powerful offices in the country.
Her run is juxtaposed with dozens of efforts across the nation aimed at denying transgender right, including barring transgender students from playing on girls’ sports teams and classifying hormone therapy as child abuse. These efforts are being advocated by former President Trump and Republican lawmakers across the country as part of a strategy some predict will help the GOP during next year’s midterm elections.
“This is the largest, most widespread onslaught against trans rights and certainly specifically trans children, that we have ever seen,” said Charlotte Clymer, an LGBTQ activist who is critical of Jenner. “Given Caitlyn Jenner’s interest in running for governor of California, you’d expect her to speak out on these things. But she hasn’t really been out there.”
It’s a familiar quandary for Jenner, who has said she has received more flack for being Republican than for announcing that she identified as a trans woman in 2015. She describes herself as fiscally conservative and socially liberal, and publicly supported Trump in the 2016 election. (A recent Politico story found that she did not vote in that election, nor about two-thirds of others she was eligible to cast a ballot in since 2000.)
In 2008, after the president pushed anti-trans policies, Jenner said she made a mistake in backing him.
As Jenner builds a campaign staff, sheis reportedly surrounded by some Trump loyalists, including a fundraiser associated with the rally that preceded the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Newsom allies have sought to tie the recall effort to Trump and the insurrection, a strategy driven by Trump’s unpopularity in California. Though Trump lost the state by more than 29 points, he won the support of more than 6 million Californians — voters who are key if the effort to recall Newsom is successful. Every prominent Republican running to replace the sitting governor supported the former president to varying degrees.
Jenner previously toyed with running for office against Sen. Dianne Feinstein in 2018. But this is the first time she officially announced a run.
Jenner’s campaign invites inevitable comparisons to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former body-building champion turned movie star, businessman and reality television host who was elected governor during the 2003 recall. That assessment ignores the differences between the two men, who have been friends since the height of their athletic stardom in the 1970s.
Jenner was born as William Bruce Jenner in 1949 in Mount Kisco, N.Y. Jenner attended school in New York and Connecticut before going to college in Iowa. After an injury derailed his football dreams, Jenner became a renowned decathlete. He moved to California as he trained, and became a world-class athlete, breaking records around the world and winning the gold medal at the 1976 Olympics.
His athletic triumphs turned him into a businessman and celebrity; he was pictured on the Wheaties cereal box, appeared on television shows and in movies, and posed for the cover of Playgirl magazine. In 1991, he married his third wife, Kris Kardashian. The couple had two children, while she had four children from her prior marriage to prominent attorney Robert Kardashian. The blended family has been part of the “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” reality television show on E! since 2007, reviving Jenner’s celebrity.
