Caitlyn Jenner says she will run for California governor in 2022 if Gavin Newsom prevails in a Sept. 14 recall election.
In remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Texas, Jenner said it was time to "take" the state's current governor out of office.
"That is the plan," Jenner said of a 2022 run. "Once this is over with, we're going to kind of evaluate everything and what we've done over this recall election."
"But to be honest with you, I don't plan on losing this election. We're going to take him out now."
Jenner filed paperwork April 23, the Washington Examiner reported at the time, formalizing a gubernatorial bid to compete against Newsom as a Republican in the recall election.
Jenner, who won the Olympic decathlon in 1976 and decades later came out as a transgender woman, at her first news conference July 9 said she is better known than any other GOP candidate and Newsom.
“I have a tremendous advantage, obviously, because of name recognition,” she said. “To be honest with you, I’ve been in a lot of races in my life, and I know how to win. I just keeping working hard.”
The field of Republican candidates is four-deep: GOP state Rep. Kevin Kiley, former gubernatorial candidate John Cox, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Jenner.
Jenner supported former President Donald Trump in 2016 but later criticized his administration’s reversal of a directive on transgender people’s access to public school bathrooms. She also split with Trump after he said transgender people would not be allowed to serve in the U.S. military.
She said Friday that she doesn’t want Trump’s endorsement and hadn’t spoken to him about the campaign.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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