Caitlyn Jenner, whose political stances have been widely criticized by LGBTQ advocates in the past, has filed initial paperwork to run for Governor of California.
In a statement shared Friday morning, Jenner derided what she called the “one-party rule” of the Golden State.
“I have been a compassionate disrupter throughout my life, from representing the United States and winning a gold medal at the Olympics to helping advance the movement for equality,” she said. “As Californians, we face a now-or-never opportunity to fundamentally fix our state before it’s too late.”
Elsewhere in the statement, Jenner criticized current Governor of California Gavin Newsom and complained about safety measures enacted due to an ongoing global pandemic. While Jenner did concede that she “was wrong” about prior Trump support in a 2018 op-ed for the Washington Post, her paperwork-announcing statement on Friday is indeed rife with conservative-sounding phrases.
As the Associated Press noted in its report, Newsom is facing a possible recall election this year, with election officials still in the process of reviewing petition signatures that are required to qualify the recall. Multiple Republicans have also announced campaigns. As for the recall significance, that’s the path Arnold Schwarzenegger took that ultimately resulted in the Batman & Robin actor being governor for eight years.
Jenner’s announcement comes months after fellow former Kardashiverse member Kanye West’s failed POTUS campaign. In 2016, a wax figure depiction of Jenner was featured in ’Ye’s “Famous” video, as were wax figures of Trump and Bill Cosby. Despite this, Jenner said in 2019 that she doesn’t know “any” of West’s songs.
