Transgender icon Caitlyn Jenner to run for California governor

LOS ANGELES • Olympic champion and Kardashian clan member Caitlyn Jenner said she has filed paperwork to run for governor of California, in a bid to become the first transgender American to win such a high-profile post.

"I'm in," the 71-year-old transgender icon and former decathlete said in a statement, adding that she will formally launch her campaign - presumably as a Republican - in the coming weeks.

Ms Jenner is the most high-profile non-politician to run for governor since actor Arnold Schwarzenegger clinched a shock victory as a Republican in California's 2003 recall election. He served as governor for more than seven years.

Ms Jenner's bid is considered a long shot by experts.

But it comes as California Governor Gavin Newsom, a suave 53-year-old Democrat from San Francisco, faces a backlash over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, particularly his stay-at-home order that hit the state's businesses and families hard.

California is expected to hold its second-ever recall election some time this year, as the state's anti-Newsom petition appears on track to secure the necessary number of signatures to trigger a recall vote.

"I am a proven winner and the only outsider who can put an end to Gavin Newsom's disastrous time as governor," Ms Jenner said in the statement.

She noted how Mr Newsom attended a now-infamous lunch last year with lobbyists at an opulent Napa Valley restaurant during a partial lockdown.

"Small businesses have been devastated because of the over-restrictive lockdown and an entire generation of children have lost a year of education and have been prevented from going back to school, participating in activities, or socialising with their friends," she added.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE