Hospitality businessman Stephen Cloobeck launches California gubernatorial bid – Orange County Register

Hospitality entrepreneur Stephen Cloobeck has a new venture: a campaign for governor of California.

In an exclusive interview with Southern California News Group, Cloobeck, an entrepreneur who has worked in the hospitality industry, including timeshares, said he is concerned about how unaffordable California has become. Citing his business background, Cloobeck decided Tuesday, Nov. 5, to join a fast-growing field of candidates vying to replace term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom, who cannot run for re-election in 2026.

Related: These are the 2026 California gubernatorial candidates

“We need fresh eyes, someone who understands how to make sure that the leaders of this state have every taxpayer’s back, make sure that the government always has their backs, and make sure, most importantly, that every taxpayer is treated as a customer so that each taxpayer or customer receives value equal to or greater than the tax dollars they spent,” Cloobeck said.

“There is no difference between consumer businesses and those running a state, but our current leaders have forgotten that.”

A self-described fiscally conservative, “socially responsible” Democrat, Cloobeck condemns what he sees as identity politics. California, he said, “has to move to the right because we can’t go any further to the left.”

For him, that means supporting efforts he believes would make California more affordable. He wants to see “ambitious data” for electric vehicles, not mandates that he said “steal our freedom as Californians.” He has an education political action committee, Save Our Schools PAC, which advocates for every child’s civil right to a quality education. Property plans, he added, they should also consider apartment living rather than detached houses.

“I believe that public-private partnerships are the secret to success for California’s future,” Cloobeck said.

He criticizes Gov. Gavin Newsom, especially when it comes to crime rates.

“Our current leadership,” Cloobeck said, “doesn’t know how to recover from the mistakes they’ve made.”

Cloobeck, 63, said he once thought he had become a doctor, perhaps a heart surgeon. But he changed his mind during his senior year at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, he said, and returned to California after graduation. He took accounting classes at Cal State Northridge and night business classes at UCLA. He began working for companies in the shopping center development industry and eventually started his own business.

His father was against him branching out on his own, he said, but a family friend advised him, “Let the kid try.”

So he did. Cloobeck built his first shopping center in Burbank. From there, he ventured into the hotel business. Its first major development was Polo Towers in Las Vegas in the early 1990s, according to its website. In 2007, his company, Diamond Resorts, acquired Sunterra Corps., a business industry the analysts described at that time as “one of the largest acquisitions in the timeshare industry ever.” In 2016, Cloobeck resigned from Diamond Resorts.

“I am not a career politician. I am an activist; I’m a businessman,” Cloobeck said.

“But I know politics and policy because I was trained by the best in politics and finance,” he added. “And I’m always used to crossing the aisles.”

Although he has not held elected office, Cloobeck has long been involved in politics. In 2004, he was appointed to the Nevada Standing Committee on Judicial Ethics and Election Practices. Later, he was president of USA branda public-private partnership established under the Obama administration to support American tourism around the world. He spoke in media interviews about golfing with former Democratic presidents and his ties to politicians, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Cloobeck said his mentor was the late Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, a Democratic leader in the U.S. Senate who died in 2021. Cloobeck was part of efforts to rename the Las Vegas airport after Reid. who did he call a “second father”.

Cloobeck is also close to Rep. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, who called the hotel magnate “a very close friend.”

“He’s an interesting individual,” Correa said. “The boy is smart. He really knows how to get things done. The only question is how he gets that message across to voters.”

Correa compared Cloobeck to former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Both have been successful outside of politics, Correa said. Both men were also bodybuilders.

A Cloobeck campaign was apparently always in play.

The question was whether he would run in California or Nevada.

Cloobeck grew up in Encino, spending summers in Simi Valley, Sanger and Willits, his bio says. He had offices in Orange County and now lives in Los Angeles County.

But as recently as a few years ago, he was living in Nevada, where he was chairman of the state’s athletic commission. He resigned from the post at the end of 2022, saying he could not work with Joe Lombardo, a Republican who was set to take over as governor of the state. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported at the time.

There were rumors at one point that could run for governor in Nevada.

Cloobeck finished his LA home in 2020, he said, but was living in a hotel while it was being built.

“That’s how great California is,” Cloobeck said, noting that Nevada has no state income tax. In California, on the other hand, residents pay tax rates based on their filing status and income.

“I didn’t intend to move back here and get involved like this,” he continued, referencing his new political journey.

“But since I’ve been so involved and I haven’t found anyone else who has the attributes to fix dysfunctional businesses, after I’ve legislated, I’ve changed laws in numerous states, I’ve been a regulator, and I’ve been an adjudicator.”

“It’s kind of a ‘unicorn’ to have all those attributes and be successful at those things,” he said.

Cloobeck is a man full of maxims, who delivers each one with earnestness.

“We are at the end of a cul-de-sac. It’s time to go back and move forward.”

“I am law and order. In my book, it’s the eighth commandment. We don’t steal. – Don’t steal.

“It’s not $950; it’s zero,” he added, referring to California’s Proposition 47, which raised the dollar amount for which property theft would be treated as a felony.

“I just don’t have opinions; I have solutions – because I did.”

Cloobeck said he is also detail-oriented and intentional about his political philosophy and the work he has already done. And he’s a keen cook and entertainer, boasting about his recipes for osso buco, spicy pasta and fried chicken. He plays pickleball and appeared on “Undercover Boss,” a reality show that placed executives in low-level jobs at their own companies to interact with their employees.

Cloobeck said he values ​​honesty and, if elected governor, would be honest with voters.

But he also puts a premium on tangible results.

“It’s time to govern with respect, accountability and results that are meaningful and measurable.”

One way he thinks he could measure his success as governor is population. He wants to see the state grow by another 5 million people, to 44 million. The state Department of Finance currently estimates that California’s population — which has declined intermittently in recent years — will peak at about 40.2 million in 2044 and begin to decline thereafter.

“That’s success. That means we’re bringing people back to our state,” Cloobeck said.

He is a longtime Democratic donor, listing both California and Nevada as his residence for the past two years. He donated to the campaigns of Rep. Adam Schiff for US Senate, as well as Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee, when they were also running for an open seat in the California Senate.

Other candidates running for governor in 2026 include state Sen. Toni Atkins, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, former LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former state Comptroller Betty Yee. They are all Democrats.