More than 100 candidates have expressed interest in running for governor during the Gavin Newsom recall, according to the California GOP.
Although it is early days, some high-profile names have been linked to the job, although there is always the chance of a big-name late entrant stepping forward. California has, after all, sent two Hollywood actors to the governor’s mansion in Sacramento.
Here are just some potential candidates so far.
John Cox
Cox was the GOP candidate in the 2020 election, which Newsom won by 32% of the vote. Although he received high-profile endorsements such as former President Donald Trump, Newt Gingrich, and Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican Party did not endorse Cox in the race. The end result was a low-profile campaign with limited funds. His platform was similar to Trump’s: low taxes, less regulation, and better infrastructure.
Cox is a businessman, attorney, and accountant. His political career began in 1976, when he ran to be a delegate in the Democratic National Convention. He switched party affiliations in the 1980s and ran for Congress and the U.S. Senate in Illinois before moving to California and taking on Newsom. He has declared his candidacy.
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Kevin Faulconer
San Diego voters elected Faulconer to the City Council in 2002, a seat he held until 2014 when he became mayor. Faulconer’s term ended in 2020 due to term limits. He was pro-business and sought to complete major renovations to the city infrastructure, along with constructing a new stadium to keep the NFL Chargers franchise in San Diego.
During his tenure, Faulconer grappled with the city’s growing homeless problem by increasing shelter beds, including opening the San Diego Convention Center during the early days of COVID-19. He is a supporter of “Green New Deal”-style environmental policies and finding a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. He has declared his candidacy.
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Doug Ose
The former Sacramento-area Republican congressman told the Associated Press, “I know I can do a better job than Newsom is doing.” He served from 1999 to 2005 as a centrist and briefly entered the governor’s race in 2018.
Ose is a former businessman who has been critical of California’s dilapidated energy sector and homeless epidemic. His platform was Trumpian in Congress: He backed increased border security, tax reform, and cutting regulations to help businesses jump-start the economy. He has declared his candidacy.
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Richard Grenell
Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence was one of his most vocal critics of President Biden’s globalist open borders stance. Grenell is the nation’s first openly gay Cabinet member and a frequent guest on Fox News, where he avoided answering pointed questions by anchors who wanted to know if he was running against Newsom in the recall.
He served as the ambassador to Germany for two years before he stepped in to lead the National Intelligence Division. During his tenure there, he declassified tens of thousands of pages of documents pertaining to Congress’s Trump-Russia investigation. Grenell was also former President George W. Bush’s communications director appointment to the United Nations.
