Could California voters elect another celebrity to lead the Golden State?
Caitlyn Jenner—a former Olympic champion and reality TV star—is considering another run for governor. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday, Jenner asked if she should run again, saying she has "been getting a lot of calls with a lot of strong opinions."
A source close to Jenner also told Newsweek that people have reached out to the star, expressing their desire for her to run. The source said Jenner is taking those conversations seriously and has not ruled anything out at this time.
Jenner garnered international fame after winning gold in the decathlon at the 1976 Summer Olympics, an achievement that earned her the title of "the world's greatest athlete." She married Kris Jenner in 1991 and starred as a recurring member of Keeping Up With the Kardashians with their family. In 2015, Jenner came out as a trans woman in a 20/20 interview with Diane Sawyer.
Jenner is also a Republican and vocal supporter of President-elect Donald Trump. She has frequently visited his Palm Beach resort, Mar-a-Lago, appearing at fundraising events for Trump's 2024 campaign and attending his election night party.
In 2021, Jenner ran as a Republican in California's gubernatorial recall election against Governor Gavin Newsom. Newsom ultimately defeated the effort to oust him, holding onto his office, but due to term limits, he will not be able to run again in 2026.
There have been speculations that Vice President Kamala Harris, the unsuccessful Democratic presidential nominee this year, could put her hat in the ring for the governor's race. Harris served as a California attorney general and senator before becoming vice president.
Polls conducted before the 2024 election show that Harris would have a substantial advantage over the other candidates, with about 72 percent of Democrats saying they'd be very likely or somewhat likely to support Harris for governor, according to one survey from the University of California, Berkeley, and the Los Angeles Times.
"If I ran, and it was ultimately against Harris, I would destroy her," Jenner wrote on X.
Given the Golden State's recent shift to the right, Jenner's 2026 chances could be stronger than in 2021. Even though more than 20 percent of the nation's Democrats live in California, the most populous state in the U.S. also has the highest number of GOP voters: 5.48 million registered Republicans.
Both celebrities who previously served as California governor were Republicans: Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Newsweek reached out to the California Republican Party for comment.
California is still a deep blue state, but Trump significantly outperformed his 2020 and 2016 performances this year. Some of California's progressive officeholders were also unseated in the 2024 election by more moderate candidates.
But even amid the recent gains for Republicans, "statewide electability is always a challenge because California hasn't elected a Republican to statewide office for more than a decade and a half," strategist Matt Klink told Newsweek.
"Her 2021 gubernatorial campaign collapsed when it became clear that she knew little about public policy," John Pitney, the former acting director of the Republican National Committee's research department, told Newsweek.
"If she has been hitting the books and getting ready to talk seriously about state issues, she might have a chance. Otherwise, she will learn again that celebrity is not enough."
Klink agreed that even though Jenner has high name recognition, she has little chance of gaining the nomination.
Because California holds an open primary—meaning that the top two candidates, regardless of political affiliation, move onto the general election—Klink said the race "will likely feature a traditional progressive Democrat and hopefully a left-of-center Independent candidate so that the race is at least competitive."
Jenner, a conservative firebrand, "would make some noise, but she won't finish second."
"Under the top-two system, the two candidates emerging from the primary with the most votes will be on the November ballot, and they could both be Democrats," Pitney, a political professor at Claremont McKenna College, said. "The problem for the GOP is that she might draw some votes away from more serious Republican candidates, enabling two Democrats to make the November ballot."
Klink added that the list of contenders hoping to succeed Newsom is "already long and deep" and includes Rick Caruso, the billionaire developer who ran as a Democrat against Karen Bass for Los Angeles mayor in 2022.
"As an independent, or even as a moderate Democrat, Caruso has a better chance to get elected statewide than a Republican candidate," Klink said. "That said, the Democrat base is heavily progressive and will play a role in selecting a candidate that mirrors the progressive bent of the party base."
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