California’s recall election candidates look like the cast of a reality show

California is experiencing times of considerable political uncertainty. Recently, there was a campaign to remove the current governor, Democrat Gavin Newsom. According to the California Secretary of State, more than 1.6 million signatures that support this initiative were confirmed. 

Basically, the revocation campaign against Newsom took place between the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, when the governor decided to stop the wave of the pandemic with harsh restrictions, after this state became the one with the highest number of deaths in the United States, with more than 60,000.

During that period, some scandals emerged, such as public photographs of the governor at a lavish dinner, when he violated his own restrictions. If 50% of Californians vote "yes" to recall, they must elect a native-born candidate, either a Democrat or a Republican. From the Democratic wing, they trust that this will not happen and that Newsom will remain in office, but Republicans are already lining up at the possibility of taking his place. Who could win in this scenario?

Kevin Faulconer

A member of the Republican Party, he served as mayor of San Diego, California, in a special election that was held in February 2014. He finished his term at the end of 2020, but he always remained critical of Newsom's management, since he has the aspiration to win the governorship of California.

For example, he had stated that Newsom's "one-time" aid payments, which were the only means chosen by him to solve the pandemic crisis, were not helping to alleviate the problems. From Faulconer's point of view, he was only doing it because the law requires it, but he was not truly helping Californians. 

John H. Cox

In the same vein, another Republican candidate appears willing to run the eventual call for elections in California. In 2018 he had been the Republican candidate in the elections to become governor, but he finished in second place, precisely, before the Democrat Gavin Newsom.

At the time, he was the creator of the failed initiative "California is not for sale", which sought that the votes of legislators include logos of their 10 main donors, to promote transparency and reduce corruption. 

Ultimately, this project was unsuccessful. Cox may be the most viable option for the Republican Party, as he was Newsom's previous contender. However, he has also been the focus of criticism, as he used a brown bear as a propaganda object for his campaign, which drew the ire of some animal activists. 

Mary Carey

Once again, the famous porn actress Mary Carey will once again run in the recall elections, as she did in 2003, to replace then-Governor Gray Davis (although she lost in the race to Arnold Schwarzenegger). This Los Angeles icon mentioned that she has "big plans for California" and she will seek to revolutionize the scene of mainstream politics.

At the time, she opted for a fairly progressive electoral program. For example, removing all weapons from the streets, legalizing same-sex marriages, controlling the AIDS pandemic, and improving the prison system. For the moment, she runs as an independent candidate, but she will hardly be able to strengthen herself in the near future.

Caitlyn Jenner

A member of the Republican Party, in an interview with CNN she commented that she walked away from the Donald Trump administration by admitting that she "did not vote for him" in 2020 and instead went to play golf.

Famous for the Keeping Up with the Kardashians show, in 2015 she began a gender reassignment process and changed her identity to a woman, so her name changed from being William Bruce to Caitlyn Marie. Caitlyn will seek to improve the inclusion of transgender women in women's sport and support legal immigration.

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It should be noted that the last Republican governor of California was another actor: Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was in command in two terms, which occurred between 2003 and 2011. Interestingly, he was the first in the state to achieve it in a recall, after the scandal of the former Democratic governor Gray Davis.

He was such a strong figure that, in this recall process, he decided not to take sides for either side, but remains a "veteran statesman" willing to help whoever is needed. However, it would not be strange if he ends up advising Caitlyn Jenner, both for belonging to the same business and for sharing ideology.

At the moment, these are the main candidates in the event of an eventual revocation of the current governor of California, Gavin Newsom.