The race for California governor just got a transatlantic twist. Two figures with deep ties to power on both sides of the pond are now battling for the Golden State’s top job. One is a former UK political aide who cut his teeth in the brutal world of Westminster. The other is a former Biden cabinet secretary with a résumé dripping in Washington DC. Both are chasing the same prize: the governorship of a state bigger than most countries.
First, the UK man. He was once a key aide to a senior British minister. A fixer, a numbers man, a backroom operator who knew where the bodies were buried. Then he crossed the Atlantic and reinvented himself as a California political player. Not an easy trick. But he did it. Now he’s in the race, and the old Westminster hands are watching. They know his game. He plays hard.
Then you have the Biden man. A former cabinet secretary, no less. That means he knows the federal levers. He knows how to extract cash from the Treasury. He knows how to cut deals with the White House. But California is not Washington. The state’s own political machine is a beast. It eats outsiders. Does he have the local nous? The activists? The union ties? We’ll see.
The polls are early. Too early. But the whispers are already flying. The UK operative is angling for the moderate lane. He is talking bread-and-butter issues: housing, crime, cost of living. Classic centre-right terrain. The Biden man is running on the Biden record. Infrastructure, climate, equity. But he has to manage the woke wars. California’s left is fractious.
The big question: who gets the money? California races are cash monsters. The UK guy has wealthy friends from his City of London days. But the Biden man has the DC donor network. It will be a war of chequebooks.
And the backbenches? In Westminster, they are watching with amusement. A former political aide running for governor of California. It is the sort of thing that makes the Lobby bar buzz. The old school ties. The Westminster playbook. Can that translate to Sacramento?
One thing is certain: this is not a normal race. Two political machines are about to collide. One British, one American. The result will tell us something about how power moves in the 21st century. It is still early. But the game is on.
