State Sen. Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) announced Friday morning that she will run for California governor in 2026, replacing Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was ousted from office due to term limits in the state's legislative leadership. He became the latest participant in the fiercely contested election campaign.

Mr. Atkins serves as President Pro Tempore of the Senate and is a former Speaker of the House of Representatives. She is the first woman and first LGBTQ+ presidential candidate in state history. first member of parliament since 1871 Hold both leadership positions concurrently.

She is completing her term in Congress and was widely expected to run for governor.

As well as the personal story that took her from a childhood in poverty in rural Appalachia to the corridors of power in California, Atkins said her experience running the House and Senate prepared her for leading the state. “We are making our own preparations,” she said.

“I don't really fit the mold of past governors or other candidates,” she explained. “Obviously I'm not a man. I wasn't born into wealth or privilege. And I wasn't appointed to my first big political office. My story is about the Californians I meet every day. They look a lot like people.”

Atkins' term as Senate majority leader ends in February, and Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) will take over the post.

Atkins began her political career on the San Diego City Council after serving as the administrator of a women's clinic. As a legislative leader, she defended a $7.5 billion water bond approved by voters in 2014, fought back against planned tuition increases at the University of California, and pushed for new state tax credits for the working poor. I fought.

She touted the fact that she had “negotiated eight budgets on time with two different governors” and was able to “head-first support the programs and policies that are most important to people's daily lives.” Stated.

Atkins has worked as an advocate for affordable housing while working in Sacramento. Her spouse, Jennifer Lesser, also worked for two successful housing and economic companies during Mr. Atkins' tenure.

Atkins announced her candidacy in a bright pink suit to a crowd at the San Diego Air and Space Museum, emphasizing her blue-collar roots and feminist identity. She talks about growing up as a miner's child in a house without indoor plumbing in West Virginia, and first describes California as a “magical place” that her father visited while serving in World War II. She said she heard it. She eventually followed her sister to San Diego and began working at a feminist women's clinic.

A number of union leaders gave speeches supporting Atkins' candidacy, a strong signal in a heavily Democratic state where labor has significant influence in statewide races.

“Her toughness, intelligence and blue-collar upbringing attract us,” said Frank Hawk, chief executive officer of the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters. “And the reason she attracts us is because she is one of us.”

Records filed with the California Secretary of State's office show Atkins has about $2.3 million in a lieutenant gubernatorial campaign committee he established several years ago, and that he has no ability to use that money for his gubernatorial campaign. He says it can be done. Major donors to the committee include the Building Trades Union, the Nurses and Firefighters Association, and the California Real Estate PAC.

Deputy Governor Eleni Kounalakis announced her candidacy last spring and jumped into the gubernatorial race. Newsom, who is advised by the same political consultant as Kounalakis, followed a similar schedule before running for governor in 2018. Announce 3 years early.

Saputo, California.public education tony thurmond He started bidding in September. Former state Secretary Betty Yee also plans to run, but said Wednesday that she would not formally run until after the March primary. Yee held a campaign committee meeting this week and she said she is “officially laying the groundwork” for her campaign and sent out her fundraising emails this week.

Mr. Kounalakis has raised $3.7 million for his campaign committee, and Mr. Thurmond has raised more than $665,000 since starting his campaign committee.

State agent. General Rob Bonta “We are seriously considering it,” he said. But he hasn't officially thrown his hat into the ring yet.

California has never had a female chief executive, although several women have run for the position, including former Hewlett-Packard president Meg Whitman and the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Instead, Mr. Atkins, Mr. Yee, or Mr. Kounalakis will be in a position to break the glass in the governor's mansion. Ceiling if any of the three is preferred.

“We're talking about five candidates, each with notable strengths and ostensibly very different from each other,” veteran Democratic strategist Darry Slagow said of the group. “But when you step back a little bit, you see that this is an incredible tribute to the political system, at least to what the Democratic Party in California has become.”

The fact that the pool of candidates (in Bonta's case, potential candidates) includes three women, three people of color, and one member of the LGBTQ+ community means that the leadership is far more representative of the population of Slugow province. It shows. Said.

Staff writer Taryn Luna contributed to this report.