SF Chronicle: Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis drops bid for California governor, will run for treasurer

[GJGCA]

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/eleni-kounalakis-governor-treasurer-california-20807989.php

Her departure is the second major earthquake in the campaign in the past month. In July, former Vice President Kamala Harris said she would not run for governor, but left open the possibility of running for president again. Kounalakis had said she wouldn’t run if Harris entered the race.
...
The list of Democratic candidates still includes former Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, state schools chief Tony Thurmond, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Controller Betty Yee, former Rep. Katie Porter and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and business executive Stephen Cloobeck, who dropped $1.4 million in ads this week criticizing President Donald Trump’s relationship with child sex offender Jeffery Epstein.

[ITAL]

1. Wow

I figured few benefitted as much as her when Harris stepped down.

[GJGCA]

2. Yep, bit of a head-scratcher IMO

especially since (FTA):

The timing of Kounarlakis’ departure is odd: Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi appeared to endorse Kounalakis for governor during a CNN interview last week, hours after Harris’ announcement.

“We have many great candidates, one in particular, Eleni Tsakopoulos, whom I support,” Pelosi said, referring to Kounalakis, a fellow San Franciscan, by her maiden name. Pelosi, who has raised more than $1 billion for Democrats over the past two decades, would have been another prolific fundraising connection for Kounalakis.

[Fiendish Thingy]

3. Good news for Katie Porter

That leaves Atkins, Villaraigosa, and maybe Becarra as her strongest competitors

Looks like California will elect either its first woman or first Latino governor in the next election.

The debates should be awesome…

[GJGCA]

4. There was Romualdo Pacheco in 1875...

...but he wasn't elected governor, so your point stands:

He served as Lieutenant Governor of California under Newton Booth until Booth was elected to the United States Senate in 1873 and took office in 1875. Pacheco then served as Governor from February 27 to December 9, 1875, when Lieutenant Governor William Irwin, winner in the September elections that year, was inaugurated.
...
José Antonio Romualdo Pacheco (October 31, 1831 – January 23, 1899) was a Californio statesman and diplomat. A Republican, he is best known as the only Hispanic person to serve as governor of California since the American Conquest of California, and as the first Latino to represent a state in the U.S. Congress. Pacheco was elected and appointed to various state, federal, and diplomatic offices throughout his more than thirty-year career, including serving as a California State Treasurer, California State Senator, and three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

above from
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romualdo_Pacheco