Early Friday morning (April 23), former reality star and long-time republican Caitlyn Jenner, announced on Instagram that she would be running for Governor in California. She hopes to replace the Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom in a likely recall election later this year.
Jenner was an Olympic gold medalist in the 70's, and a former patriarch of the Kardashian family in "Keeping up with the Kardashian's" and later she landed her own spinoff show "I am Cait" after announcing publicly that she identifies as transgender. While this does not lend much to her experience as a politician (it lends nothing at all, in fact), Jenner is hoping that the household recognition of her name and celebrity status will be enough to give her a leg up in the possible recall election.
Jenner has had a back and forth relationship with President Trump in the previous years, at first being a vocal supporter of him in 2016, and then distancing herself in 2018 when his administration reversed a directive of transgendered people's access to public bathrooms, and when Trump declared that trans people should not be allowed in the military.
She admitted in an interview that her support of him had been "misguided". She now assures the public she won't be a "Trump Republican". A campaign advisor told Axios that Jenner would be able to reach "every possible demographic you can think of" and is very "socially liberal and fiscally conservative".
Her campaign team so far consists of:
Tony Fabrizio, top pollster in Trump's 2016 and 2020 elections
Brad Pascale, a close friend and former campaign manager for Trump (even though it's not clear if he'll be taking that title in this campaign)
Tyler Deaton, President of Allegiance strategies
Ryan Erwin founder of RedRock strategies
On both the Instagram post and her website, "Caitlin for California", which was launched earlier this morning, Jenner gives a statement on why she decided to run. Both posts state "California has been my home for nearly 50 years. I came her because I knew that anyone, regardless of their background or station in life, could turn their dreams into a reality."
She then goes on to say how in the past decade "we have seen the glimmer of the Golden State reduced by one-party rule that places politics over progress and special interest over people."
"Sacremento needs an honest leader with a clear vision."
She calls out Gavin Newsom in her Instagram post for his hypocritical quarantine mandate while he "goes out to dinner with his lobbyist friends', despite the Kardashian-Jenner clan doing the same thing on multiple occasions and her keeping quiet during every single one.
People were quick to voice their opinions in the comments of her post, most stating "no", or "Hard no."
Her WinRed donation campaign is set to go live later today.