Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California’s top deputy has announced a run for his job in 2026, becoming the first candidate in what is likely to be a highly contested race.
Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, a Democrat who has served as Newsom’s deputy since 2019, will run for governor in the 2026 election, she announced on Twitter. The 57-year-old Democrat has been a staunch Newsom ally, working with him on a raft of progressive policies as he has carved out a national profile.
Kounalakis was elected alongside Newsom, himself a former two-term lieutenant governor, in 2019. She previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to Hungary during the Obama administration as well as the president of AKT Development Corporation, California’s largest housing development firm founded by her father, who was a major financial backer for her lieutenant gubernatorial campaign, according to The Sacramento Bee.
Unlike Newsom, Kounalakis has had a decidedly lower profile in state and national politics. However, while independently elected from Newsom, she publicly supported his aggressive efforts to promote California as an “abortion sanctuary” after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, restrict access to firearms, and study whether the state should pay reparations to African Americans for slavery, according to her campaign website.
Newsom is term-limited by the California Constitution and cannot run in 2026, though he has not announced whether he would support Kounalakis’ candidacy.
Kounalakis is known to be a strong political ally of Vice President Kamala Harris, having joined her 2020 presidential campaign and advocated among donors for her selection as then-candidate Joe Biden’s running mate, according to Politico.
Kounalakis’ decision to announce her campaign over three years before the election is influenced by California’s large size and population as well as its expensive media markets. Newsom himself began his 2018 campaign for governor in 2015.
During Kounalakis’ time in office, California has seen a significant population exodus, with an 871,127 net decline, according to CalMatters, a state-based investigative group. Many analysts have attributed that drop to the state’s progressive policies, with Democrats holding supermajorities in both chambers of the state Legislature and Democratic governors having led the state since 2010.
Departing residents and businesses have cited California’s high levels of urban crime and high cost of living as primary reasons for leaving. The average price of a home in California is $843,800, the most expensive in the United States according to Redfin, a real estate brokerage firm, while the state’s violent crime rate increased by 6% in 2021, per the Public Policy Institute of California.
If elected, Kounalakis would become the first woman governor of the state. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
Controlling Protein Is One of the Globalists’ Primary Goals
Between the globalists, corporate interests, and our own government, the food supply is being targeted from multiple angles. It isn’t just silly regulations and misguided subsidies driving natural foods away. Bird flu, sabotaged food processing plants, mysterious deaths of entire cattle herds, arson attacks, and an incessant push to make climate change the primary consideration for all things are combining for a perfect storm to exacerbate the ongoing food crisis.
The primary target is protein. Specifically, they’re going after beef as the environmental boogeyman. They want us eating vegetable-based proteins, lab-grown meat, or even bugs instead of anything that walked the pastures of America. This is why we launched a long-term storage prepper beef company that provides high-quality food that’s shelf-stable for up to 25-years.
At Prepper All-Naturals, we believe Americans should be eating real food today and into the future regardless of what the powers-that-be demand of us. We will never use lab-grown beef. We will never allow our cattle to be injected with mRNA vaccines. We will never bow to the draconian diktats of the climate change cult.
Visit Prepper All-Naturals and use promo code “veterans25” to get 25% off plus free shipping on Ribeye, NY Strip, Tenderloin, and other high-quality cuts of beef. It’s cooked sous vide, then freeze dried and packaged with no other ingredients, just beef. Stock up for the long haul today.