California gubernatorial election, 2018 (A New American Century)

The 2018 California gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the 40th Governor of California. Incumbent Democratic Governor Jerry Brown was ineligible to run for reelection for a third consecutive (and fifth non-consecutive) term due to term limits from the Constitution of California, which were put into place following his first two terms as Governor. The election was held concurrently with elections for Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, and other statewide and local offices.

The race was between the incumbent Democratic Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom and Republican Mayor of San Diego Kevin Faulconer, who qualified for the general election after placing first and second in the June 5, 2018 primary election. The general election became a heated contest following the refusal of Antonio Villaraigosa, former Democratic Mayor of Los Angeles and candidate in the primary, to endorse Newsom due to an acrimonious falling out on the direction the California Democratic Party should be heading. This allowed Faulconer to seize upon the dissatisfaction of Villaraigosa voters and win the election with 51% of the vote. He became the first Republican elected to statewide office (along with Melissa Melendez and Michael Ramos, who won their elections for Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General, respectively)

Declared

 * Gavin Newsom, Lieutenant Governor of California
 * Antonio Villaraigosa, former Mayor of Los Angeles
 * John Chiang, California State Treasurer
 * Delaine Eastin, former California State Superintendent of Public Instruction
 * Albert Caesar Mezzetti, former Manteca City Councilman
 * Michael Shellenberger, founder of the Breakthrough Institute

Declined

 * Xavier Becerra, Attorney General of California (running for re-election)
 * George Clooney, actor and activist
 * Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles
 * Bob Iger, CEO of Disney
 * Sheryl Sandberg, United States Secretary of the Treasury since 2017
 * Libby Schaaf, Mayor of Oakland - running for re-election
 * Jackie Speier, US Representative
 * Tom Steyer, hedge fund manager, philanthropist, and environmentalist
 * Kevin de León, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency since 2017
 * Amanda Renteria, Director of the Office of Management and Budget since 2017

Declared

 * Kevin Faulconer, Mayor of San Diego
 * Travis Allen, State Assemblyman
 * John H. Cox, businessman
 * Doug Ose, former US Representative

Withdrawn

 * Rosey Grier, minister and retired NFL player
 * David Hadley, former state assemblyman
 * Allen Ishida, former Tulare County Supervisor

Declined

 * Tim Donnelly, former state assemblyman, candidate for governor in 2014 and candidate for CA-08 in 2016 (running for CA-8)
 * Ashley Swearengin, former Mayor of Fresno (running for U.S. Senate)
 * Duncan Hunter, US Representative (running for reelection)
 * Peter Thiel, venture capitalist