They start lining up to be governor to replace the lame duck Gov. Gavin Newsom when his term ends after 2026. Yes, already.

The first in line Monday was Lt. government Elena Kounalakis, 57.

A few hours later, former state comptroller Betty Yee, 65, said she intended to flee

,

at.

They are Democrats, of course, the only political type that can be elected US governor or senator in California today.

If Kounalakis, Yee or another woman is elected, she will become California’s first female governor. There have been 40 governors for nearly 173 years, and we have only elected white males in what is ironically the most diverse state in the country.

The next gubernatorial elections will not be held for another three years. Why start running now?

It puts down a marker and challenges rivals to jump in, perhaps before they’re ready. It’s an attempt to announce your presence to voters who have only a vague idea of ​​who you are, if any. And it allows you to organize a campaign without being too cutesy by a so-called

exploratory committee.

Just call it out truthfully: I run.

Most of all, it allows you to raise the barrels of money needed to run a successful race for governor in California, especially for low-profile candidates like Kounakis and Yee.

Not alone

The cost of living

is in California

exorbitant

in California

,

other

so does serving an important function in this widespread, multifarious state.

Yee said she won’t officially enter the race until later in the year, but wants everyone to know she’s in.

Kounalakis is California’s first female lieutenant governor.

She enters the gubernatorial race with three substantial assets:

An impressive sounding title that contains the keyword governor and implies a position that is more important than it actually is. A boatload of family money and access to a powerful donor list that will ensure she doesn’t fall short in a campaign that will most likely cost more than $100 million. Expert knowledge and experience in housing construction, qualities the state government desperately needs to address the curse of unaffordable housing in urban California.

The title of lieutenant governor is a huge asset in a gubernatorial race.

That said, only three sitting lieutenant governors have been elected governor of California:

Republican CC Young in 1926, Democrat Gray Davis in 1998 and Newsom in 2018. So there must be money, substance and some appeal behind the title.

It was immensely helpful to Gray, recalling Garry South, the former Davis political strategist, referring to the title of lieutenant governor.

In focus groups, people couldn’t think of anything he’d done as lieutenant governor because they didn’t know, South says. But they would say, ‘He knows the way because he is second, or he controls the state when’ [Republican Gov. Pete] Wilson is out of state.

We sat there rubbing our bellies and thought, This is great stuff.

Let’s face it, the lieutenant governor’s virtually powerless job shouldn’t even exist. It’s totally unnecessary. As a governmental back-up, we can use another elected state official who holds a really important position, such as the Attorney General.

We have this archaic law that says a lieutenant governor takes over from a governor when he leaves the state. That’s right

in

It’s back to the eras of the stagecoach or little train when a governor could be incommunicado for days or weeks. With Zoom and the smartphone, a governor can now act anywhere in the world instantly, just like a president can.

The lieutenant governor does sit on some important boards: the University of California Board of Regents, the California State University Board of Trustees, and the State Lands Commission, for example.

And Newsom has designated Kounalakis as the state’s representative for International Affairs and Trade, drawing on her foreign affairs experience as the U.S. ambassador to Hungary during the Obama administration.

But honestly, I thought we’d hear more from Kounalakis after she was chosen, given her energy, tenacity and feisty nature. She has been relatively quiet.

In December I described her as the most obscure lieutenant governor I’ve ever seen.

In contrast, when Newsom was lieutenant governor, he constantly promoted ideas, including his own economic growth plan for California. But that irritated Gov. Jerry Brown, who saw it as upstaging. Brown virtually shut Newsom out. Kounalakis wanted to get along with the governor.

There is a different relationship between Gavin and Eleni, says Peter Ragone, a Kounalakis campaign strategist who worked for Newsom when he was mayor of San Francisco. They have known each other for decades. Their relationship is much more collaborative.

OK, but why hasn’t Kounalakis considered how we can build and make more homes in California?

be it

affordable?

She was able to do it on the QT, says Ragone.

Good, but we still haven’t seen much progress in building houses.

?

Her father, Angelo Tsakopoulos, who migrated to California from Greece on his own as a teenager, virtually penniless, became a very successful, very wealthy real estate developer near Sacramento. Kounalakis became president of the great family

company

.

I think knowledge of affordable home building would have great appeal to California voters.

But there can be a large field of participants.

Other potential contenders besides Yee include Atty. General Rob Bonta and US Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra. Another highly anticipated opportunity is San Francisco Mayor London Breed. It is also conceivable if Rep. Adam

B.

Ship from Burbank or

representative

Irvine’s Katie Porter

loose loose

next year in the US Senate race, they can run for governor.

Whatever. The early odds are that California’s 41st governor won’t be a white man again.