Voter's Edge California Voter Guide
Get the facts before you vote.
Brought to you by
MapLight
League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Tuesday September 14, 2021 — Special Election
Invest in unbiased information

With your support, we can reach and inform more voters.

Donate now to spread the word.

State of CaliforniaCandidate for GovernorNewsom Replacement

Photo of Jenny Rae Le Roux

Jenny Rae Le Roux

Business Owner/Mother
Use tab to activate the candidate button. Use "return" to select this candidate. You can access your list by navigating to 'My Choices'.
For more in-depth information on this candidate, follow the links for each tab in this section. For most screenreaders, you can hit Return or Enter to enter a tab and read the content within.
Candidate has provided information.
Thank candidate for sharing their information on Voter's Edge.

My Top 3 Priorities

  • I will restore economic growth to free California to live, work, and breathe. I will stop prison releases and closures to create safe cities, support small businesses by ending extended unemployment benefits, and renew water deliveries to farmers.
  • I will free California by reducing homelessness. My “spend smarter” plan will use data to base local funding on progress, increase mental health and substance abuse support, and ensure the homeless are legally bound to use available housing options.
  • I will free California to breathe by reducing wildfire risk. I will target 1M acres of managed forest per year through thinning, biomass permits, and controlled burns. Productive forest management is renewable, sustainable, and essential.

Experience

Education

Columbia Business School Masters, Business Administration (current)
University of Virginia Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Economics (current)

Biography

Jenny Rae Le Roux is an accomplished business owner, author, and strategic advisor with a B.A. in Economics and an MBA from the Ivy League’s Columbia Business School. After launching her career advising billion-dollar companies and government organizations at Bain Consulting, she co-built companies in the energy and financial services industries before purchasing a private tech-enabled services company. She is a frequent presenter at Harvard Business School, the Wharton School of Business, and over 60 other top institutions, and she has been quoted in Forbes, Business Insider, and other business publications.

Jenny Rae is a businesswoman who runs organizations where results matter. She uses data to identify problems correctly and build workable solutions. She grew startups into global businesses by shrinking costs and bringing value to the marketplace. And she did it all while raising a family. Her children attend a Spanish language immersion school, and the family operates a hobby ranch near Redding.

One year ago, in the midst of the pandemic, she said, “Someone should do something.” She modeled her own COVID plan using publicly available data and hosted conversations about the future of public policy. After meeting with groups around California, she recognized major gaps in both policy and process. Jenny Rae holds a deep conviction that successful private sector leaders should serve the public through advocacy and in elected office.

As the state’s top executive, she’ll do what she’s always done: follow the data to common sense solutions to free Californians to live, work, and breathe. As an outsider, she is beholden only to the people of California. As a working Californian, she won’t ask you to do anything she’s not willing to do. And as a mom, she believes that California’s kids deserve better: they deserve a free and prosperous future in California.

Questions & Answers

Questions from League of Women Voters of California Education Fund (3)

How would you address California’s need for affordable housing for low- and moderate-income earners? Please include specific proposals.
Answer from Jenny Rae Le Roux:

I will free Californians to live by increasing our housing supply. We must reduce onerous building regulations (made more strict over the last couple of years) and streamline permitting so that California is a reasonable place to build.

I will accelerate building, but government-funded housing is not the answer. California has a shortage of over 1.4 million homes, and the average California home costs nearly $700,000. Under our current Governor, only 93,000 building permits were issued as of June 2019. I will streamline regulatory approvals and development impact fees, and will incentivize localities to stop new local growth ordinances which increase house prices by up to 5% per ordinance.

In addition, I will take action to lower development impact fees. My administration will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act); we must protect the environment without delaying the building of affordable homes that California so desperately needs. The act was amended to enable a billionaire to more quickly construct a new basketball arena in Sacramento; it should not hold up the construction of homes for the middle class.

How would you address the issue of California’s residents who are unhoused? Please include specific proposals.
Answer from Jenny Rae Le Roux:

I am a businesswoman and problem solver running to free California from homelessness and insane housing costs. 51% of America’s unsheltered homeless live in California. California spent $4B on homelessness last fiscal year, yet the problem is getting worse - homelessness increased 17% in our current Governor’s first year and another 7% in 2020. 

My plan, “Spend Smarter,” will refocus problem solving at the root causes. We must reduce the homeless population and lower the price of housing.

First, I will audit existing services and shelters. We have nine state agencies overseeing 41 programs to address homelessness. After the audit, I will fill gaps and ensure the homeless are legally bound to use housing options provided to them rather than occupying public spaces.

Second, I will require every city to gather the names, ages, and veteran/non-veteran status of the homeless for accurate data measurements.

In addition, I will ensure funding is focused on coordinated care managed at the local level, with specific focus on sufficient substance abuse and mental health support.

What programs or legislation would you support to meet the water needs of all Californians?  Please include specific proposals.
Answer from Jenny Rae Le Roux:

I am running to free California to breathe again, and we urgently must improve water resource management. 

As a hobby farmer, water solutions that work are personal for me. We need multi-year water plans instead of one-year plans that lead to perennial mismanagement.

We must urgently complete new water storage; we have not completed a major water infrastructure project since the 1970s. We must also replace conveyance infrastructure; California loses over 8 billion gallons of water per year to leaking pipes. In addition, I will accelerate permitting for additional water treatment and desalination plants in major cities to boost water supply in coastal areas.

Who gave money to this candidate?

Contributions

Total money raised: $514,578

Top contributors that gave money to support the candidate, by organization:

1
Jenny Rae Le Roux
$200,000
2
Employees of Kier & Wright
$32,400
2
VHA Inc.
$32,400
3
Employees of Perfect Smile Dental Care
$32,000
4
Employees of Concentrus
$30,000

More information about contributions

By State:

California 95.41%
Florida 2.46%
AE 0.59%
New Jersey 0.30%
Other 1.24%
95.41%

By Size:

Large contributions (98.59%)
Small contributions (1.41%)
98.59%

By Type:

From organizations (8.45%)
From individuals (91.55%)
8.45%91.55%
Source: MapLight analysis of data from the California Secretary of State.

Videos (1)

— August 5, 2021 Jenny Rae for Governor

Jenny Rae is running for Governor to free California to be able to live, work, and breathe again. In this short video, Jenny Rae explains her business background, why she's running, and what qualifies her to build the future of California we want and desperately need.

Please share this site to help others research their voting choices.

PUBLISHING: SERVER:PRODUCTION