By Khalida Sarwari
Two days after winning the Republican nomination for governor, Meg Whitman returned to San Jose, where she was the CEO of eBay for a decade, and said she was ready to face off with her Democratic opponent Jerry Brown.
“I am so excited about where we are,” Whitman said, standing among a crowd of supporters. “It was a tough battle, but I can say I am battle-tested.”
Attorney General Jerry Brown is California’s Democratic nominee for governor. Whitman bested her rival, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, for the GOP nomination and will square off against Brown in the November general election.
This afternoon, she appeared at a homecoming rally at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose to thank her voters and campaign team.
Standing on a stage surrounded by supporters in green “Meg 2010” T-shirts who held signs reading “Take Back Sac” and “Create Jobs,” Whitman smiled broadly and said she looked forward to discussing “specifics” with Brown.
Whitman said she has accepted an invitation from Dominican University in San Rafael for a debate in October. She foreshadowed public education and jobs as two issues she would address in the debate.
“I am ready to take on Jerry Brown,” she said. “I am ready to give him the toughest run he’s had in 40 years.”
Brown also made a Bay Area appearance today and toured Solaria Corp., a solar panel manufacturing plant in Fremont. Following the tour, Brown engaged in a question-and-answer session with reporters in which he said that in addition to the solar industry, job creation will come out of an investment “in the ideas and technologies of the future.”
Brown said he too is ready to engage his gubernatorial candidate in a debate, saying he will “stand next to Meg any time she wants. She doesn’t have to wait until September.”