Tim Nelson

Tim Nelson earned a high school diploma from Calvary Chapel High School, a bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California in 1996, a graduate degree from Oxford University in 2000, and additional education from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1994. Nelson's career experience includes working in government.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am the U.S. Diplomat who got Russia to help us remove Syrian chemical weapons; warned accurately ahead of Russia’s invasions of Georgia, Ukraine’s Crimea, and eastern Ukraine; advocated earliest for sanctions on Russia and arming Ukraine; fought to end the Sinai Torture Camps; initiated the sanctioning of China for holding millions of Uyghurs in concentration camps; demanded accountability for ICE and CBP killings and assaults in our streets; and am running to protect my home state from any authoritarian kleptocrat’s long arm traumatizing Californians and our immigrants.

By restoring the Republican Party away from Trump's Authoritarian Kleptocracy, we can Restore Our Constitutional Republic and prevent federal overreach into our state. We can also have the accountability that only comes from having two parties' oversight on spending inside our state. I am also bringing groundbreaking technology that will be as important and transformational as the steam engine and the Manhattan Project: Supercritical Energy that will enable baseload power generation from deep geothermal renewable energy to greatly lower costs and enable efficient desalination for our water problems. I will also address our chronic housing shortage, affordability problems, incarceration rates, drug addiction problems, educational challenges, and international trade issues with science-backed and expert-advised approaches to deliver results.

Oxford University

Pacific Council

USC

Calvary Chapel

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Securing Our State - The only way to hold President Trump accountable for his destruction of our government, assaults on our states, and incessant taxing of everyone via inflation, tariffs, conflicts, and sociopathy is by electing a Republican governor of our largest state who is succeeding in demanding some accountability already. I advocated for DHS Secretary Noem’s firing and Attorney General Bondi’s firing and am pressing for the firings of Stephen Miller, “Secretary of War Crimes” Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel…and calling for impeachments to begin now. We need new Republican leadership to ensure this is not a partisan fight where people presume it is just politics. This is our Republic - if we can keep it!Empowering Our People - Californians are primarily suffering from Trump’s assaults on our people, economy, universities, businesses, Hollywood, law firms, importers, and everyone but the billionaires who bow to his whims in hopes of siphoning more billions out of our economy into their pockets while paying less in taxes than teachers and police sometimes. Trump’s disastrous decisions are unchecked by Republicans in Congress and yet when held accountable he can be easily defanged. I have changed his course of actions without any positional power, but I am turning to Californians for the leverage necessary to end the madness of our self-proclaimed king who does not care about Americans.Expanding International Trade - California’s economy is larger than all countries apart from China and Germany, and we have our country’s largest ports-or at least we did until Trump’s whims were placated in plainly unconstitutional levying of arbitrary tariffs that wreaked havoc and were eventually ruled unconstitutional. Precisely none of what we suffered through was necessary, if only Republicans had spines to read him the first Article of the Constitution. With a Republican Governor of California who is not a propagandist or ballot-seizing sheriff, i.e. enablers metastasizing Trumpism, but a diplomat who has initiated and helped advocate several laws nationally, Californians can effectively work together again proudly to grow our state.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I have always worked behind the scenes to empower others and I love the joy that comes from enabling others to succeed, especially when they did not see how they would make it. I have worked on some of the world’s most vexing issues and initiated diplomatic breakthroughs that changed our world for the better. Empowering others comes from a secure base that melds empathy, curiosity, and problem solving to look at issues like the Sinai Torture Camps, Xinjiang’s concentration camps, and Syria’s chemical weapons and determines to find the levers necessary to end them. I swore to protect our Constitutional Rights and am seeking the necessary levers to restore Constitutional Order. I believe Conservatives must conserve our environment.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

My personal mentors have included leadership guru Warren Bennis; Pacific Council Founder Abraham Lowenthal; Holocaust Studies Professor Rabbi Mordechai Finley; International Relations Professor Steven Lamy; Pastors Richard Cimino, Erwin McManus, Chuck Smith, Don McClure, Gayle Erwin, and Chuck Swindoll. Partners in empowerment like Gulchehra Hoja, Elnigar Iltebir, Meron Estefanos, Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi, Laura Stephan, Judy Heumann, and Alison Gutterud are irreplaceable forces for justice. It seems to me that what they all have in common is that their lives and exploits are living testimonies of when character matters most to deal with some of life’s most difficult challenges. Character really is the most important facet of leadership, as its absence is inevitably destructive.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

1) Integrity 2) Empathy 3) Vision 4) Expertise 5) Dedication

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Improve Californians’ lives through empowering economic growth; enhancing state-wide systems like health, education, and infrastructure; managing the provision of power, water, and transportation; conserving natural resources; initiating and overseeing legislation; controlling spending and taxation.

What legacy would you like to leave?

Empowering others to succeed, transforming our world towards renewable power generation, and empowering accountable democracies to overcome authoritarian kleptocracies.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

The Chapel Store at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa - 3 years.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

My life’s struggle is for justice. Struggles in my life are too complex to share here but will have to await my future book, if I ever write it: Red Lines, and the faith to move mountains(TM).

Governors have many responsibilities, which vary from state to state. Which of those do you personally consider the most important in your state?

Empowering Californians to succeed and thrive where they live and contribute meaningfully.

In most states, governors have the power to make line-item vetoes. If that is true in your state, what would be your philosophy for how and when to use this power?

Judiciously and for the benefit of our people.

Under what circumstances should the governor of your state be able to use emergency powers?

To respond to real emergencies solely!

What was the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember?

Our diplomatic hostages in Iran being returned home to the U.S. and kissing the ground when they got off the plane