As more and more candidates announce their plans to run for statewide office in California, the Republican Party’s most successful candidate in recent years has decided to sit 2024 out, at least as a candidate himself.

Last year, Stanford public policy expert and Hoover Institution fellow Lanhee Chen ran for State Controller and won more votes than any other Republican in the country. But it wasn’t enough to win that general election, in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1. Chen has been seen as a rising star for the California GOP, a smart, moderate Republican with four degrees from Harvard who has served in both Republican and Democratic administrations. But he announced this week
that he will not run for public office anytime soon, and is instead launching his
own political action committee, the Golden State Watchdog PAC.

For more on this, Doug Sovern, KCBS Radio's Political Reporter spoke with Lanhee Chen.