With no widely known, well-funded challenger to Gov. Gavin Newsom's bid for reelection, a motley assortment of deep-thinkers, also-rans and fed-up political neophytes each holds a modicum of hope that, just maybe, they will shock California by winning enough votes in the June 7 primary to face off against the governor in the general election.
The 25 challengers include a seasoned Northern California lawmaker, Republican state Sen. Brian Dahle and Green Party candidate and former Los Angeles poet laureate Luis Javier Rodriguez.
Only a handful have raised more than $250,000 for their campaigns, with Dahle leading the pack by raking in $1.4 million. That's a pittance in a state the size of California, where the price tag of a successful gubernatorial campaign typically runs in the tens of millions of dollars.
