California voters will get the opportunity to vote for Barack Obama to be their next governor—but it’s not who you think.
Barack Denzel Obama Shaw was born Cecil Shaw III but legally changed his name in January 2013, during an eight-year stint in the U.S. Army Reserves. “Rappers always have some kind of handle. Superheroes too. Names they go by that aren’t their real names,” Obama Shaw told Newsweek.
“When I got out of high school people used to say to me ‘You remind me of Denzel Washington.’ Later on it became Barack Obama. I wanted a uniform that didn’t come off, something that’s was going to remind me of the new me: a person of hope, a person of music, a person of leadership.”
Obama Shaw’s father was a musician who appeared on shows like Soul Train. His grandfather was a known associate of soul music pioneer Ray Charles. He wanted a name that honored his family along with both Washington and Obama. “It’s a name that represents hope,” he said. “Obama made the impossible possible for people that looked like me, to become President of the United States. It was the greatest moment of my life to witness that. I want people to be able to experience that type of hope again.”
Obama Shaw is one of 61 candidates voters will find when voting in the California primary governor’s race, alongside big names like Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco, and Democrats Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer. He got a taste for politics in 2022 after deciding to run for mayor of Alameda. “I found myself complaining about my country, how Black people are being treated and just different situations,” he said. “So I took on a stance that I was going to stop complaining and start campaigning.”
Obama Shaw finished third, earning 6 percent of the vote, but came away from the experience with a renewed sense of confidence about his abilities as a public speaker and political thinker. “I was able to hold my own,” he said. “I did pretty good for someone with no experience in politics.”
That was when he decided to set his sights on something even bigger: Governor of California. Obama Shaw is running on a plank of three key pledges: eradicate homelessness in California, secure more land for housing across the state and bring an additional $26 billion to the state budget. He says he respects the media, values communication and would be a governor who prioritizes transparency and honesty in all his dealings.
Though Obama-Shaw makes no bones about the fact his namesake has been a guiding force over his campaign and was also the reason he joined the army in 2008 (“trusted he would be level headed and would be starting wars all over the place, and I trusted his leadership”) he’s also willing to work with President Donald Trump to get things done.
“What I learned from the military is you respect the rank…even if you don’t like the person, you always respect the rank, and that’s something I still do to this day. I respect the rank, the title of this is President of the United States,” he said. “Now, I don’t like what the man is saying, or the thing he’s doing, but he is the President, and so even if he’s not respecting it himself, I’m still going to respect that rank.”
The California gubernatorial election primary will take place on June 2. Under California’s system, the top two candidates will then advance to the November general election. The final primary debate between seven leading candidates was on May 14. Following the debate, prediction markets named Becerra as the favorite to win the governorship with a roughly 49-51 percent chance.
A recent Emerson survey also had Becerra in first, polling ahead of Republican Hilton in second place, and fellow Democrat, billionaire Steyer, in third. Donald Trump’s pick, Hilton, also received a boost after a televised debate on April 28, with a SurveyUSA poll showing him leading the primary field at the time.