Politician/Joel Kaneshiro

Joel Kaneshiro is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 43rd governor of California from 2039 to 2043. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2021 to 2035, and as a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors from 2016 to 2021. He is the first Asian-American to serve as governor of California.

Born in Fountain Valley, California, his grandparents left Japan in the early 1930s. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, they were sent to internment camps, along with thounsands of other Japanese Americans at the time. Kaneshiro graduated from the University of California with a law degree in 2011, and worked for a law firm in Santa Ana.

In 2015, Kaneshiro was elected to the Orange County board of supervisors as a Republican. He attempted several times to reduce the city's property tax, but all were blocked by the board. Kaneshiro was re-elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2019, and in 2020, he ran for an open congressional seat in California's 48th district. He won the election, and went on to serve seven terms in the position. He developed a close professional relationship with Utah congressman Garrett Leavitt, a fellow moderate Republican.

In 2034, Kaneshiro announced his candidacy for a United States Senate seat being vacated by Dexter Schafer. He won 33.9% in the non-partisan primary, placing second behind Arnold Chaudhary, to whom he lost the general election by three points. Kaneshiro's surprisingly close defeat in one of the nation's most left-leaning states drew attention from many Repulicans, and he was considered to be a potential front-runner in the upcoming 2036 Republican presidential primaries, but he declined to run for president, stating that he intended to spend more time with his family, and had no immediate plans to seek political office.