Republican California gubernatorial candidate Kevin Faulconer teased a big announcement about lowering the tax burden on state residents in an interview with Fox News.
“We’re going to be coming out with a plan that is going to lower the burden on Californians,” Faulconer told Fox News. “You’re seeing too many great Californians being forced to leave our state. … My campaign is going to be talking about that Californians cannot be overburdened by taxes and a tough economic environment.”
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“We have to be competitive. We’re in a competitive environment. We have to have a governor that is going to fight for Californian jobs and not take them for granted,” he said.
California is among seven states losing a congressional seat due to population loss, the Census Bureau announced on Monday.
Former San Diego Mayor and Republican candidate for California governor Kevin Faulconer speaks during a news conference in front of Abraham Lincoln High School on February 17, 2021, in San Francisco. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The effort to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, received the necessary number of verified signatures to trigger a recall election later this year. The California secretary of state said on Monday that the threshold of verified signatures reported by counties, which was set at more than 1.4 million, had been met.
“Millions of Californians, they signed this petition because they’re fed up with one-party rule,” Faulconer said.
Many candidates, including Faulconer, announced their intention to run before the recall election was triggered, including former Olympic athlete and transgender activist Caitlyn Jenner. Faulconer predicted even more candidates would announce plans to run.
“I think we’re going to have a lot of candidates jump in this race. That’s the nature of the recall race. Last time we had over 100 candidates. I expect it to the same this time,” he said, referring to the 2003 recall election.
Faulconer touted his background as mayor of San Diego as setting him apart from the field of candidates, many of whom have never held elected office before.
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“I’m a proud Republican who got elected in a majority Democrat city,” he said. “I got real results as mayor of San Diego. Homelessness decreased by double digits. … I was able to make all of this progress as a Republican who had to work with a majority Democrat city council my entire tenure as mayor.”
Faulconer was mayor of San Diego from 2014 to 2020.
FOX Business’ Brittany De Lea contributed to this report.