“People are just sick and tired with a lot of partisan bickering and stalemates...I just know that there is this mood out there where people are hungry for problem solvers,” Steve Poizner said. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Top California Republican to run statewide as an independent

SAN FRANCISCO — Steve Poizner, the wealthy Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur and 2010 Republican gubernatorial candidate, has announced he’ll seek statewide office as an independent in 2018 — marking a high-profile defection from the state Republican Party as President Donald Trump’s approval ratings sink in California.

Poizner told Politico on Monday that as California confronts the impacts of devastating fires, mudslides and growing cybersecurity threats, he’s decided to seek the office of insurance commissioner for a second time — but this time, without a party label.


“California’s insurance commissioner needs to be fiercely independent of the insurance industry, which is why being free of partisan politics is especially important,’’ said Poizner, who held the office from 2007 to 2011. He said his experience in three arenas — the public sector with expertise in tech, as well the private and the nonprofit sectors — distinguishes him from two other major party candidates seeking the office. Democratic state Sen. Ricardo Lara, and Peter Kuo, an East Bay Republican who has unsuccessfully run for Assembly and state Senate, have already entered the race.

Poizner is a multimillionaire tech executive who made his first fortune when his company, SnapTrack, which pioneered the GPS technology in cellphones, was sold to Qualcomm for $1 billion in stock.

In 2016, Poizner rejected Trump’s presidential candidacy and endorsed Ohio Gov. John Kasich, serving as his state campaign chair in California. Several weeks ago, he re-registered from Republican to “decline to state” — a growing category that now defines 1 in 5 registered voters in the state, as both major parties continue to lose ground in voting rolls. He said he has discussed the move with Kasich, who has been “very supportive” of his decision.

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Still, Poizner refused to bash Trump — and denied he is trying to become a flag-bearer for a new political brand. “I don’t want to necessarily lead some new third party movement,’’ he said. “People are just sick and tired with a lot of partisan bickering and stalemates. … I just know that there is this mood out there where people are hungry for problem solvers.”

He said he would use his tech experience — and his experience with post-9/11 cybersecurity issues while serving on a White House team — to prioritize cybersecurity and cyber-fraud issues in California, which he said are costing consumers and businesses billions of dollars. Poizer also said that under-insurance — an issue thousands of homeowners are confronting after recent fires — and health insurance issues would be another focus of his campaign.

Poizner’s move makes political sense in a state where the Republican Party has withered and there is deep voter dissatisfaction with Trump, whose approval ratings are down to 30 percent in California, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll released this month.

His pitch may also resonate with voters fed up with the major political parties — and with the bitter partisan infighting that dominates national politics, as evidenced by two federal government shutdowns in the past month.

“Give Poizer credit for thinking ahead,” said Hoover Institution fellow Bill Whalen, a former adviser to Republican Gov. Pete Wilson. “The public has soured on both parties, and in California, both Democrats’ and Republicans’ registration is declining. Poizner could tap into that.”

Whalen noted that it’s not the first time a leading California Republican has tried a run for office as an independent. Dan Schnur, a former spokesman for Wilson and a strategist in Sen. John McCain’s presidential run, made an unsuccessful run for secretary of state in 2014, also pitching independence and the need for nonpartisan leadership.

The key difference, Whalen said, may be the timing and Poizner’s wealth. “There is a very big sweet spot for a well-funded candidate to exploit in California,’’ he said. “He can say he is not beholden to either party.”

But the challenge for him will be to draw attention to a down-ballot contest that usually gets little attention, he said.

Poizner’s move to independent status comes as California GOP registration lags Democrats’ by 15 percent — and the party’s turnout could be historically low in 2018, some political observers suggest.

In the governor’s race, the three Republican candidates — businessman John Cox, Assemblyman Travis Allen and former Rep. Doug Ose — are barely breaking into double digits in polls, raising the prospect of a general election contest that may not have a Republican candidate. Under the rules of the state’s “top two” primary system — under which the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, make it to the general election — the November contest could be between two Democrats, a development that could depress GOP turnout.

In the high-profile U.S. Senate race, another contest that drives turnout, the main contest is also between two major Democratic candidates — incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein and state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León. In that race, as in many statewide contests, a leading Republican isn’t expected to jump in before the filing deadline in early March.

Poizner started work as a White House fellow serving the National Security Council on Sept. 4, 2001 — one week before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In the Office of Transnational Threats, he specialized in security issues, including cybersecurity, and is credited with helping to build a new Homeland Security plan after 9/11.

After making his first fortune in the SnapTrack sale, Poizner then founded an educational nonprofit and co-founded the California Charter Schools Association in 2003.

Poizner made an unsuccessful run for state Assembly in 2004. He jumped into statewide politics two years later to run for state insurance commissioner, defeating Democrat Cruz Bustamante by 12 percentage points — becoming the only Republican other than Arnold Schwarzenegger to be elected to statewide office since 1996.

After one term, he made a run for governor in 2010 — losing the GOP nomination to billionaire Meg Whitman, who spent $140 million of her own money on an unsuccessful attempt to beat Democrat Jerry Brown.

As a GOP gubernatorial candidate at a time when state unemployment was upward of 12 percent, the moderate Poizner surprised many when he tacked to the right on immigration — jabbing at Whitman as a pro-amnesty candidate — and appeared at his own rallies with signs declaring “No Amnesty: Stop Illegal Immigration.”

Now, he said he has had “eight years to think about it,’’ and says that “my point of view now is it’s time to be pragmatic about it, to reach a compromise on it once and for all.’’

“I still believe in the importance of beefing up border security” and on being tough on criminals who have committed felonies and should be deported, he said. “[But] it’s time for Republicans and Democrats to put together a solution to get everyone who is here, and who is not documented, on a path to become documented."

