Peter Thiel considering bid for California governor

Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire and outspoken Donald Trump supporter, is considering a 2018 bid for California governor, according to three Republicans familiar with his thinking.

Thiel, who co-founded PayPal and was an early investor in Facebook, has been discussing a prospective bid with a small circle of advisers, including Rob Morrow, who has emerged as his political consigliere.

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Other Trump backers are exploring bids for political office, too. Alan Cobb, who was a Trump campaign aide, is seen as a top contender for the Kansas congressional seat that GOP Rep. Mike Pompeo would vacate should he be confirmed as CIA director.

Whether Thiel pulls the trigger or not, Republicans in the Trump era are expecting a sizable number of business-minded political outsiders to wage 2018 bids for office. They include Randy Boyd, a wealthy Tennessee executive and minor-league baseball team owner who is expected to run for governor in the state.

“Republicans have had great success at both the state and federal level in recent years electing candidates who had backgrounds in business but who were political outsiders,” said Phil Cox, a former Republican Governors Association executive director. “With Trump’s victory, we’re going to see even more nontraditional candidates — with backgrounds in business, not politics — enter the political arena.”