SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Northern California state Sen. Brian Dahle on Tuesday announced his bid for California governor, the first Republican legislator to challenge Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2022 bid for reelection.
Dahle faces a monumental task in a state where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by an almost 2-to-1 margin and no GOP candidate has won a statewide election in more than 15 years. Newsom also has $25 million in campaign funds stashed away and remains popular among most Californians, having handily beat back a Republican-led campaign to recall him from office in September, while Dahle has less than $200,000 in his legislative accounts.
At a news conference in Redding announcing his candidacy, Dahle expressed confidence that California voters are yearning for political change. He blamed California’s ongoing struggles with crime, homelessness and a high cost of living on policies embraced by Newsom and the Democratic leadership at the state Capitol.
