California Senate Pro Tempore Toni Atkins announced Friday in San Diego she will seek the governor's seat in 2026 after current Gov. Gavin Newsom hits a term limit.
Atkins, a democrat, walked onto the stage at the San Diego Air & Space Museum to McFadden & Whitehead's "Ain't No Stopping Us Now" and a crowd chanting "Toni." She announced her run, and her intent to continue her focus on affordable housing and healthcare.
"It's time for California to finally elect a woman governor," Atkins said. "As the most qualified candidate running for governor, who also happens to be a woman, I agree."
Atkins, who made history as the first woman and first openly gay person to lead California's upper legislative chamber, was termed out of her Senate seat and announced in August she would not be seeking re-election.
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In November, she told the Associated Press she was "very interested in looking at that possibility” of a run for governor.
She has filled in as governor on several occassions, a quirk of the California Constitution that requires governors to put someone else in charge whenever they leave the state. First, in 2014 when she filled in for Gov. Jerry Brown and as recently as July, when she signed three bills into law.
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California voters have never elected a woman to the governor’s office, nor a person who is openly LGBTQ. And a host of other Democratic candidates are also vying to make history.
Her opponents include Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Tony Thurmond, the state superintendent of public instruction and former Controller Betty Yee. Attorney General Rob Bonta has said he is seriously considering a run.
Kounalakis, Thurmond, Yee and Bonta have the benefit of appearing — and winning — in a statewide election, meaning voters will be familiar them. Atkins has only ever been elected by voters in San Diego.
Atkins, as leader of the California Senate, has already held one of the most powerful positions in state politics, acting as the body's chief negotiator with the governor and the Assembly speaker on key legislation and the state's more than $300 billion annual operating budget.
Atkins is one of only three people in history to hold both top spots in the Legislature. She has led the Senate since 2018. Before that, she was speaker of the state Assembly from 2014 to 2016. She also had a brief stint of mayor of San Diego.
Atkins came to California in 1985 to help care for her sister's young son. She later worked at a women's health clinic that performed abortions before getting elected to the San Diego City Council. She had a brief stint as mayor before getting elected to the state Assembly in 2010 and the state Senate in 2016.
