CA-Gov: Democrat Amanda Renteria, who served as national political director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential bid, set up a campaign account on Wednesday for a bid for governor. Renteria, who had not shown any public interest before this, soon tweeted, "For questions coming in right now: I am still serving as the Chief of Operations at the California Department of Justice." The filing deadline is in a month.
Renteria has only run for office once before. In 2014, national Democrats were excited about Renteria's bid against GOP Rep. David Valadao in the 21st District in the Central Valley. Renteria, who had served as chief of staff to Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, raised a credible $1.7 million for the campaign. However, while the seat had backed Obama 55-44, Democratic turnout is usually awful in this area when there isn't a presidential election on the ballot, and the GOP wave didn't help things. Valadao ended up winning 58-42, and while the DCCC reportedly tried to immediately recruit Renteria for another try, she soon signed onto Clinton's campaign. As Renteria said in her tweet, she became state Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s operations chief after the campaign.
If Renteria runs, she'll need to put together a campaign very quickly in this huge and very expensive state with just months to go before the June 5 top-two primary. However, if Renteria has the connections to jump-start a bid this quickly, she may have an opening. So far, the most prominent woman running on the Democratic side is former state schools Superintendent Delaine Eastin, who left office in 2003 and has raised little money and barely registered in the polls. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is the frontrunner, while former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa looks like his most formidable opponent, and state Treasurer and fellow Democrat John Chiang is also in the mix. If Renteria can get her name out, she may have a shot to reach the general election in what's been a male-dominated field.
Villaraigosa may also have the most to lose if Renteria does well. Villaraigosa was the only prominent Latino candidate, and Renteria, who is Latina, could take away votes he's counting on to reach the top-two. It could also be good news for Republicans who are afraid an all-Democratic general election could hurt Team Red's turnout for winnable races. If Renteria runs, she could split the Democratic vote enough to make it easier for a Republican to advance.
No matter what, Newsom will likely remain the overwhelming favorite to at least advance to the November general election. Newsom also got some good news on Tuesday when he earned an endorsement from the powerful state SEIU.