Californians could do worse than choosing veteran Senate Majority Leader Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) to replace governor. Gavin Newsom.

Not that they necessarily should. But she is worth serious consideration. Voters will have two years to review and decide before Newsom is deported at the end of 2026.

That is, if she can raise the many millions of dollars needed to last that long in a highly competitive race. She starts with about $2.3 million, barely enough to gain an edge in this high-stakes match.

That’s why Atkins, 61, and other gubernatorial wannabes are announcing their candidacies so early. They must raise enough money to attract attention and spread their messages to the 27 million potential voters in this far-flung, highly diverse state.

Atkins has an additional problem, unlike some other candidates: She has never run in a statewide race before and is largely unknown north of San Diego.

She formally entered the race Friday at a campaign rally in her hometown.

The legislative leader told me she entered the race because she concluded she could do the job as well as anyone else, if not better.

Atkins is definitely not the type of person Californians are used to electing as governor.

For starters, she’s a woman. All of California’s governors elected since statehood have been white men.

But this historical gender bias is more likely to change by 2026. Two other candidates are women: Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis and former state comptroller Betty Yee.

This will be a competitive race with wide open doors and probably no clear frontrunner for a long time. There is no real attention grabber who would meet the definition of heavyweight in the political world.

Secretary of Public Education Tony Thurmond is a candidate. He would be California’s first black governor.

State Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta is still considering whether to run for governor or run for re-election.

Atkins is different in another way, too: She’s not exactly telegenic, not Hollywood pretty like Newsom. And appearances can unfortunately influence voters’ decisions. She’s not a rock star either

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former Governor Jerry Brown was in his 70s. She is hardly a global celebrity like the former governor. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

But Atkins can be a compelling orator who speaks with controlled passion. She has the invaluable political asset of authenticity.

Atkins would be California’s first openly LGBTQ+ governor, just as she was the first lesbian speaker of the Assembly and president pro tem of the Senate. In fact, she was the first female Senate leader and the first lawmaker in 146 years to lead both legislative houses. That says a lot about the respect she has among the people who chose her as their leader.

She is uniquely qualified to be governor, based on her experience being on top of virtually every issue California has faced during a 14-year legislative career. Previously, she served on the San Diego City Council and learned about local issues.

I’m ready to get started, Atkins told me. I’m not going to miss a beat. You don’t have to explain CEQA [the California Environmental Quality Act] for me or California’s transportation system.

Okay, what about those two problems?

When it comes to environmental regulations, California still needs to continue cutting through red tape and loosening zoning laws to lower the cost of housing construction, she says.

When it comes to the homeless, we need to dig deeper into what works and what doesn’t.

The bullet train: get started on it and make sure it’s completed in someone’s lifetime.

So here’s an issue you don’t hear much about from Democrats: crime. We need to take a hard look at how we can make our neighborhoods safe and shop without fear for our safety, unlike what people are facing today.

How? Focus on the real perpetrators who commit the most crimes, she replies. We don’t want the prisons to fill up with the wrong people again. But those who should be there should be imprisoned.

Yes, we need a lot more details.

Her proudest achievement as a lawmaker? In 2014, a $7.5 billion water bond was passed by voters.

This allowed us to provide clean drinking water, she says. That was especially important for this person who grew up carrying water from the well.

That’s another thing about Atkins: She grew up in what most of us would call poverty in rural Southern Virginia, in a small rental house with no running water and a private patio outside. Her father was a miner and her mother a seamstress, who always struggled to make ends meet.

I wasn’t doing well in school until donated glasses from the local Lions Club helped me see the board and do the lessons, she recalled in her candidacy announcement. When I was growing up, being able to live in a double-wide trailer was the norm

dream.

I don’t fit in with most other candidates, she said in an interview. My story is much more similar to that of many other Californians.

The difficult upbringing has inspired Atkins’ legislative agenda, which includes providing tax breaks for poor people and providing permanent state funding to help low-income families buy affordable housing. She was also a crusader for abortion rights.

She is ready to become governor. But her toughest task will be running the race to win the office.