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Southern California venture capitalist John Cox announced he is joining the 2018 governor's race.

Southern California venture capitalist John Cox announced he is joining the 2018 governor's race.

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is also running for governor in 2018.

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is also running for governor in 2018.

California State Treasurer John Chiang has also entered the governor's race to replace Jerry Brown.

California State Treasurer John Chiang has also entered the governor's race to replace Jerry Brown.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is also running for governor in 2018.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is also running for governor in 2018.

Former California state schools chief Delaine Eastin is another Democrat who has joined the race for governor in 2018.

Former California state schools chief Delaine Eastin is another Democrat who has joined the race for governor in 2018.

Republican businessman John Cox enters 2018 governors race

Southern California venture capitalist John Cox became the first major Republican to jump into the 2018 governors race Tuesday, saying he would reform state government by making it more representative and removing the influence of big money.

There are two Californias the one we have, and the one we could have. The California we have is in trouble, and we need to do something about it, Cox, 61, said in announcing his campaign via Facebook video.

Cox, who ran for office three times in his native Illinois but never won, joins four Democrats as declared candidates: former Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, state Treasurer John Chiang, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former state schools chief Delaine Eastin. Cox, who has lived in California for eight years, is a resident of Rancho Santa Fe in San Diego County.

In 2016 he spent $1 million on a proposed ballot measure that would have required legislators to wear the corporate logos of their top 10 donors when advocating for a measure in the Legislature. It did not qualify.

As he tried to do in 2014, Cox wants to put a measure on the 2018 ballot to create a neighborhood legislature. By dividing current Assembly and Senate districts into smaller pieces so each assembly member represents about 5,000 people and each senator about 10,000 constituents, Cox said it would remove the incentive for legislators to spend an inordinate amount of time fundraising and currying favor with monied interests.

He bristled at the notion that it would betray conservative principles by creating a larger bureaucracy, with hundreds more representatives.

I know thats what my opponents are going to try to say, Cox said in an interview Tuesday, but it actually will save more than $100 million, pointing to a nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Office report on a previous neighborhood legislature measure that failed to qualify for the ballot.

Cox faces an uphill battle in a state where only 26 percent of voters are registered Republicans. No Republicans hold statewide office, and Democrats have a supermajority in both houses of the Legislature.

Cox declined to say whether he voted for President Trump, who remains highly unpopular in California, according to recent polls.

I know my opponents will try to tie me to Mr. Trump. I am not Mr. Trump, Cox said. Im analytical, Im policy-oriented. I read five newspapers a day. Im not a reality TV star thats going to insult people. Im going to try to rally people.

He also declined to state his positions on social issues like abortion rights or same-sex marriage. Thats not what Im running on at all, he said.

Still, Cox could give Republicans an opportunity as the Democratic favorites are either consummate insiders or products of the political system. So this gives Republicans a chance to say this is no longer business as usual, said David McCuan, professor of political science at Sonoma State University. But on the downside, their (Republican) politics of usual is called irrelevance at the state level.

Coxs main challenge is that unlike is his Democratic opponents, who have held elective office, Californians have no idea who he is, said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at UC San Diego. And while Cox is wealthy he has already put $1 million into his campaign Kousser said, Hes a millionaire, not a billionaire.

Cox said he is not fully self-funding his candidacy. He argued that he is a self-made man who was raised by a single mother and worked two jobs to help put himself through college and law school.

Im not going to apologize for being successful, Cox said.

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli

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Republican businessman John Cox enters 2018 governor's race - SFGate

New York Times

Republican Party, Central Intelligence Agency: Your Tuesday Evening Briefing New York Times 1. WikiLeaks' latest release, if confirmed, appears certain to rock the technology world and deliver a serious blow to the C.I.A.. The so-called Vault 7 documents offer details of what are described as highly classified C.I.A. hacking tools used to ...

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Republican Party, Central Intelligence Agency: Your Tuesday Evening Briefing - New York Times

Google is looking for someone to lead Republican political advertising, according to a recent job posting. The position will lead the sales team managing accounts for GOP campaigns.

This is at least the second role relating to Republican outreach that Google has advertised publicly. While the posting appears to be routine, it comes at a time when the GOP is in power both in the White House and Congress. It would make sense for the company to expand roles aimed at cementing GOP relationships.

In December, Google advertised to fill a manager to handle conservative outreach, described in the listing, as Googles liaison to conservative, libertarian and free market groups.

The outreach position was filled by Max Pappas, who had been an aide to Sen. Ted Cruz, according to Politico Pro. Lee Carosi Dunn, who previously served as head of election sales, now heads White House outreach, according to the story.

Bloomberg reported the outreach job was not new, and that the previous policy specialist in the role had worked on Mitt Romneys 2012 campaign for president. Still, the listing gained attention for having been posted in the wake of President Donald Trumps election. Google had a cozy relationship with the White House during the presidency of Barack Obama.

Google has tried to forge a relationship with Trump since the election, but has also openly opposed his policies.

Shortly before President Donald Trumps inauguration, Alphabet chairman and former CEO of Google Eric Schmidt reportedly met privately at Trump Tower in New York with White House adviser and son-in-law to the president, Jared Kushner.

Since the inauguration, Google employees and executives have protested Trumps actions, including a ban on immigration from a list of predominantly Muslim countries.

In the case of the recently advertised Washington D.C.-based job, Google is looking for someone well connected. The ideal candidate should have a wealth of experience with Republican campaigns and have strong relationships with GOP campaign managers, pollsters and general consultants.

Google declined to comment for this story.

This story has been updated to include additional details about recent hires at Google.

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Google is hiring a head of Republican political advertising - Recode - Recode

Advocates of long-discredited gay conversion therapy programs say they are heartened by the election of Donald Trump and are counting on Vice President Mike Pence and congressional Republicans to help fight off efforts to make such programs illegal.

I certainly hope that this administration will pull back from some of the aggressive activism that the Obama administration engaged in, said Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, a powerful conservative lobbying group in Washington that is active in supporting sexual reorientation efforts.

President Obama's Surgeon General Vivek Murthy publicly stated that conversion therapy is not sound medical practice and that such programs are harmful and are not appropriate therapeutic practices.

Conversion therapy has been outlawed for licensed mental health providers in California, Oregon, New Jersey, Vermont, Illinois and the District of Colombia, according to the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT advocacy group.

The Family Research Council and Sprigg have helped to fight legislative proposals in 20 other states that would make gay conversion therapy illegal.

They certainly should not be outlawed. They certainly should not be prohibited by law, Sprigg said in an interview to be broadcast this Friday on the ABC News program 20/20 in an investigation of gay conversion therapy programs.

As a Christian, I believe that the Bible teaches that to choose to engage in homosexual conduct is a sin, he said, adding that he believes therapy can cause people to make different choices.

The 20/20 report includes revelations of two programs that conducted conversion therapy in Alabama, including one in which Christian pastors overseeing dozens of teens were convicted of child abuse amid stark allegations of beatings administered to teens who resisted efforts to change their sexual orientation.

The camps practicing conversion therapy uncovered by the 20/20 investigation were not operating as licensed mental health facilities and are therefore not covered by laws prohibiting the practice.

At the Republican National Convention last year, delegates voted for a party platform that appeared to tacitly endorse the right of parents to send their teens to conversion programs, supporting the right of parents to determine the proper medical treatment and therapy for their minor children.

The party position mirrors the position of the Family Research Council, which considers sexual reorientation therapy mental health care.

If someone is experiencing something mentally, like same-sex attractions, that is causing distress, then thats a mental health issue, Sprigg said.

He said that there is no place for physical abuse in therapy programs.

The kind of therapy that we support is ordinary talk therapy like anyone would have for any type of psychological issue, he said.

Sprigg said that his groups does not believe that same-sex attractions are a choice but that he also does not believe that experiencing same-sex attractions is a normal and natural variant of human sexuality.

He added that he believes Pence will be helpful in any battle with what he called the gay lobby.

As a candidate for Congress in the 1990s, Pences campaign website included a statement that fueled belief that he was in support of conversion therapies for gay youths.

Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior, the website said, under a header reading, The Pence agenda.

While ABC News has not received a comment from Pence, despite repeated requests, a spokesman for Pence told The New York Times in November that Pence was calling for federal funds to be directed to groups that promoted safe sexual practices and that it was patently false that he supported or advocated conversion therapy.

The Family Research Council is optimistic Republicans will back its position.

I see it as unlikely that any sort of legislative federal legislative attack upon sexual reorientation therapy will ... go anywhere," Sprigg said.

The practice however has long been discredited by respected medical and mental health institutions.

In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its diagnostic manual, the fields definitive book of mental disorders.

In 1975 the American Psychological Association said, Homosexuality per se implies no impairment in judgment, stability, reliability or general social and vocational capabilities; further, the American Psychological Association urges all mental health professionals to take the lead in removing the stigma of mental illness that has long been associated with homosexual orientations.

And in 1993 the American Academy of Pediatrics denounced conversion therapy, saying, "Therapy directed at specifically changing sexual orientation is contraindicated, since it can provoke guilt and anxiety while having little or no potential for achieving changes in orientation.

Despite these unequivocal positions from the foremost U.S. mental health organizations, the 20/20 investigation found a cottage industry of so-called conversion camps operating across the country.

To learn more, and hear the harrowing story of how two gay youths escaped such camps, tune in to 20/20 on Friday at 10 p.m. Eastern time.

ABC News Randy Kreider, Cho Park, Alex Hosenball and Paul Blake contributed to this story.

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Gay conversion therapy advocates heartened by Pence, Republican electoral victories - ABC News

Former ECD commissioner is the second Republican to get in what looks to be a competitive primary

Photo: Randy Boyd for GovernorKnoxville businessman Randy Boyd, the former state Commissioner of Economic and Community Development, is running for governor.

Boyd announced his candidacy in a press release Monday morning, making him the second Republican candidate to enter what is likely to be a competitive primary. State Sen. Mark Green announced his candidacy in January and state House Speaker Beth Harwell and U.S. Rep. Diane Black are thought to be seriously considering runs as well.

There is not a better time to live and work in Tennessee, but not everyone is sharing in that success. So my campaign will be about expanding opportunities for every Tennessee family and community, Boyd says in his announcement. The opportunity for a better education the opportunity for better jobs and a better opportunity for everyone, regardless of where you live, whether youre from rural Tennessee, the inner city, or somewhere in between. Thats how Ive tried to serve in the past, and that is my vision for an even greater, more successful Tennessee.

Boyd touts the fact that he is "not a professional politician." His campaign, though, will be run by veteran Republican operative and former Tennessee Republican Party chairman Chip Saltsman.

On the Democratic side, former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean has announced his candidacy and state House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh is expected to do so.

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Republican Randy Boyd Announces Bid for Governor - Nashville Scene