Republican Shakes Up Race for California Fiscal Watchdog

Lanhee Chen, an educator and GOP policy adviser to presidential candidates, could have reconsidered his plans to run for state controller in California after the recall election against Gov. Gavin Newsom flopped so badly in September.

Despite false poll-driven drama over the summer, Newsom easily sailed to victory in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly two to one and Republican registrations have continued to dwindle in recent years.

Chen, 43, certainly doesn’t need the unglamorous and usually thankless job. In recent years, the statewide-elected controller post, California’s top bean-counter and auditor, has mainly operated outside the media spotlight even though the office holder is considered the state’s chief financial officer. That could change if the next controller is willing to shake up business as usual in Sacramento— exactly what Chen is pledging to do.

A lawyer and former presidential campaign policy adviser to Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio, Chen teaches public policy at Stanford University and serves as a fellow at the prestigious Hoover Institution. These academic positions have helped insulate him from the usual Trump-era loyalty tests.

Chen decamped from Washington, D.C., to the Bay Area nine years ago, though he’s still well-known inside the Beltway for frequent appearances on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and other political news shows. He’s also the rare California political candidate who has served in both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations (as a senior health care official and a member of the Social Security Advisory Board, respectively).

Still, running as a Republican in Democrat-dominant California is no easy feat; no GOP candidate has won statewide office in 15 years…. (Excerpts from the Virginia Star)