Caitlyn Jenner's gubernatorial campaign in California on Tuesday released a video ad reminding people of Gov. Gavin Newsom's hypocrisy during the coronavirus pandemic.
After telling Californians they need to mask up and practice social distancing, Newsom, a Democrat, dined maskless at a Napa Valley restaurant with friends and supporters.
"[The ad] highlights the anger Californians have at Newsom for his hypocritical behavior and for putting his own self-interests first and everyone else last," the Jenner campaign said in a statement. "Newsom has also refused to lift the state of emergency, giving himself absolute power to continue locking us down when most other states are open."
The 45-second video begins by showing Newsom wearing a crown and with arms folded, as words appear on both sides of him: "Gavin Newsom thinks that he is a king and that rules apply only to the little people."
That is followed by a news clip from a Los Angeles television affiliate reporting on Newsom eating at the Napa Valley restaurant French Laundry, "one of the most expensive on the West Coast," where "nobody's faces were covered."
A masked woman is then seen saying, "I think it's very hypocritical of him."
"The governor just is not practicing what he preaches," a news anchor says.
Then, a CNN anchor, while interviewing Newsom, asks: "What on Earth were you thinking?"
The ad ends by showing a crowned chief state executive with the words, "Newsom doesn't deserve to be our governor."
Opponents of the governor garnered enough petition signatures to force a vote this year on whether to throw Gavin Newsom out of office. An election likely will be scheduled for a Tuesday between mid-September and early November, according to CalMatters.
California voters will be asked two questions: "Should Newsom be recalled?" and "Who should replace him."
Jenner, a former Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete and an activist for the transgender movement, is one of several Republican candidates trying to replace Newsom. She recently said homeless people living in tents in Beverly Hills was a symptom of rapidly expanding problems in California.
"When you drive in Beverly Hills and you look at the park, and there's tents in the park, we have to look at that issue very seriously," she said.
"But to be honest with you, on a big picture, living in a tent in a park in Beverly Hills, it's just different today. Before, the homeless were all downtown. I'm sure you've been downtown. I mean, you walk down there, and it's just like so tough, so difficult on these people."
Jenner also condemned career politicians in the first campaign video.
"The American Dream grew up here, yet career politicians and their policies have destroyed that dream," Jenner said.
Newsom has tried to cast the recall effort as an extension of the divisive 2020 presidential fight, and a partisan effort backed by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
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